Into Shadow - NaNo 2014
by Intyalle
Summary: A bunch of Pathfinder characters navigating the world of Golarion. For NaNo 2014. Please read and encourage me! Rated T just in case - rating may change. Probably not though.
1. PART ONE - Chapter One

**PART ONE**

Daelyn carefully wove her way through the crowds, scanning the faces before her. Most were familiar – Magnimar might be a large and bustling city, but only a small portion of the travelers wandered into the Shadows. Most of those that did knew exactly what they were after down here, and walked with purpose, but some...

"Get your hands off me, woman! I'll have nothing of you and your vile ways."

Dae winced. The voice hadn't come from far away, and its owner stuck out like a sore thumb – all gleaming and arrogant. She didn't know how they'd managed to get a paladin turned around and down into the Shadows, but Darcy would likely have some pointed words regarding _why_ any of her people would do such a brainless thing.

It was fairly lucrative work for anyone who needed a quick penny or something to do. One group went up to the reputable parts of town claiming to be guides giving directions, but sent visitors into the Shadows instead. Another group nicked any loose valuables, and the last _graciously_ led the poor, lost people to where they had initially intended to go. For a price, of course. Darcy just took her cut and kept things running smoothly... and out of the notice of any of the watch. No-one much cared what happened down here, but actively luring people into the area would be a little bit more frowned about. The last thing Darcy needed was a belligerent paladin.

Dae moved quickly forward and slid ingratiatingly between the paladin and the hooker – who, as a glance informed her, had quietly lightened the paladin's load during her flirting. Heads were definitely going to roll if he noticed anything untoward while still in the area.

"Don't take offense, sir. Most of the people down here know what they're in for. You... ah... seem to be a bit off the beaten trail though, yes? Need some help finding what you're after, perhaps?"

"Why should I trust you? I've already been sent astray once today." His grey eyes were wary, eying her suspiciously. He held his horse's reins in one hand and his helmet was tucked under his other arm, exposing his ruffled brown hair. Judging by the fit of his armour, he was the broad-shouldered sort, but it was hard to tell much of anything under full plate.

"Oh, them." Dae waved a hand disdainfully. "Bunch of con-artists, the lot of them. Just looking to prey upon the confusion and coin purses of poor travelers like yourself. Me, I'm just a concerned citizen. You don't exactly fit in here, and I'd hate to see you get hurt."

He scanned her face a moment longer, then relaxed. "Alright then. I'm searching for the temple of Imodae, and a good place to rest while I am here."

Dae pondered for a moment, and then sighed internally. No, she'd have to forgo any money from this one. It would be best if he were well away from here before he realised how much lighter his coin purse was.

"Right this way... I'm sorry, I don't believe I got your name?"

"Cerkal Valorson."

"Right, Cerkal. Just stick close to me through here and I'm sure we'll get you to your temple in one piece."


	2. I - Chapter Two

Durra did not like cities. Born on the plains south of Icestair, she was used to space, and being able to see the horizon – or the mountains – in all directions. To being able to move freely. To be able to see danger before it was upon her. Sheera whined and pressed close against her legs. The large white wolf did not like cities either, and Durra could feel her companion's discomfort as the layers upon layers of stench assaulted her nose. Hopefully, here, she would be able to find some help quickly and be able to be on the road again soon.

Manifestly, the city did not like her either. Those around her took one look at her brutish appearance and the flattened ears of the heavy-set carnivore that accompanied her and gave the pair a wide berth. Durra took a calming breath and tried to ignore the implied insult, grating along already jangled nerves. Many of her race, after all, probably should be given a wide berth. Besides, it would be ungrateful to treat with scorn anything that slightly eased her sense of claustrophobia. As bad as it was now, it would surely be worse with bodies pressed against her on all sides.

Durra was scanning the sea of people and buildings in front of her, trying to find some direction, when the low growl came from Sheera. Snapping her head around quickly, it wasn't hard to find the source of her agitation. A sleek brown timber wolf was nosing around, clearly visible within the bubble of space the crowd afforded them. It boldly ignored Sheera's warning and started nosing the larger wolf's side, causing her growl to turn into a whine, knowing her mistress would not approve if she attacked in a crowded street.

Durra's eyes narrowed a bit as the seconds crept by and no-one called the wolf off. She was standing stock still now, the crowd flowing around her like a river. A timber wolf had very few reasons to be in a city – or so bold. She peered into the crowd, trying to find the person who would also be standing as a rock in the stream, but the sun glared harshly in her sensitive eyes, and without something like the tell-tale bubble of space she herself sported, she couldn't pick any one face out of the multitude. The smaller wolf seemed to be trying to communicate with Sheera, but her powers and those of her spirit animal were not yet that great, and the shaggy white wolf whined in distress and confusion.

"Step forward," Durra called, her voice booming over the heads of those present. A number of people turned and gave her quizzical or mildly hostile looks before hurrying on a little faster than before. "I know you cannot be far. Call off your dog, and stop harrassing my companion."

"Dog? Really? You don't think that's perhaps a touch harsh?" The grinning face seemed to materialise out of nowhere to Durra's sun-obscured eyes. "It isn't Kadien's fault that he's a bit more lean than your puffball there."

Durra looked the man opposite her up and down. About half a head shorter than herself, with a lithe, slender build, fine blond hair and slightly pointed ears. Elf...? No, half-elf, definitely. He was wearing a broad grin, his green eyes flashing. Suddenly, he leaned in close, causing her nostrils to flare.

"Like what you see? Don't worry, I don't mind if you stare a bit. Name's Jirintel." Thankfully, he moved away again, just extending a hand. Durra took it carefully and shook it gingerly.

"I am Durra Windspeaker. My companion is Sheera." Jirin reclaimed his hand and tucked both of them into his pockets.

"Look, you seem a little... lost? Out of place? I doubt you're going to manage to fit in here – your orc kin to the east do not exactly ingratiate themselves on the Storval Plateau. Nothing I can do will change that. I can probably help ease things along for you a bit, though. For once thing," Jirin nodded to the arctic wolf at her feet, "I know a good tavern that doesn't mind housing companions like our darlings here. We're even allowed to keep them in our rooms. Er.. encouraged, actually. The horses spook if they try to sleep in the stables."

"Why would you help me?" Durra eventually asked, after a ponderous pause. "Your kind do not usually fare well in the hands of my brethren."

"Your kind don't usually turn up in a big city like Magnimar, peacefully, in the middle of broad daylight either. Nor am I exactly helpless. Besides, your lovely darling there seems a good sort, and doesn't look mistreated or abused. I'd guess you're not the usual sort of orc, to have a beauty like that along with you. Ah... not to mention, not a lot of orcs live up in the ice plains. You don't find arctic wolves like that in the Hold of Belkzen. Don't find them on the plateau either, for that matter."

"You are a man of many words," she eventually replied.

"While you are clearly a woman of very few, all of them carefully considered. How about you see your way to sparing a few to answer me, no?"

Even Durra couldn't help her lips twitching a bit at that. The man was truly shameless.

"You do seem to know this city better than I. I will not refuse your aid."


	3. I - Chapter Three

"- do not know what more you want of me, Sir Valorson. We haven't received any such missive from the priests at Lastwall."

"You must check again, Sister Istari! I was told my orders would be sent ahead of me by fast courier, and that I was not to know my task until I reached my destination."

"We can do nothing more. The recent mail has already been checked three times. I assure you, your courier has not arrived. You yourself have said your standing orders consisted only of travelling here and putting yourself at our disposal. If your courier arrives soon, we can send you on your way and no harm done. If not, I am sure we can find _some_ use to which we can put that longsword of yours. Fear not, Cerkal; you will not waste away here."

"But I was told my mission was of utmost importance! Surely-"

The Sister sighed and rubbed her temples. Dae looked on in amusement. After the sanctimonious rant on the way here regarding the foul ways of those living in the Shadows, she was glad to see that even his own religion could barely put up with him.

"_Sir Valorson,_" the Sister grated, clearly at the end of her patience. "I have already told you, we have done all we can. Our own courier has not yet returned from _his_ last mission, so we are unable to send anyone on such a long journey as that to Lastwall, and this temple is not made of money! Wizards who would be able to deliver such a message charge lavishly for their services. Nor, as you've pointed out _yourself_, does such a message allow for the secrecy you assure me your orders demand. There is plenty of need to be done here, and now, and there is nothing more we can do to help you!"

Dae's eyebrows raised as she spotted an orc and a large, white wolf mounting the marble steps to the temple. Then she saw the lithe form behind them and broke out in a grin. She slipped off her perch and strode down to meet them.

"Jirin!" she cried with a laugh. "What are you doing here, you old rascal? I thought you said you never wanted to set foot in a temple of a god so stuck-up as Iomedae."

Jirin put a hand to his breast in mock offense. "Rascal? Rascal! I'll have you know that I am a perfectly respectable and upstanding citizen. As for what I'm doing here, I'm helping this poor lost soul find her place."

Dae glanced quizzically back at Cerkal and the orc gradually approaching him. "And you're sure _this_ is her place?"

As if on cue, Cerkal broke off from his discussion with the Sister as he finally spotted the approaching orc. With a snarl, he drew his longsword and took a menacing step forward.

"You! How dare you try to defile such a holy place with your presence! I will not stand for-"

"CERKAL VALORSON!"

Everyone froze. Sister Istari was the petite sort, and not a single one of them had guessed she might be capable of such an impressive roar. Cerkal stared at her, dumbstruck, his raised swowd momentarily forgotten. Even Jirin looked a bit awed at the sheer volume the small priestess had produced.

Sister Istari looked over their stunned faces and suddenly became quite flustered. Her face went red and she straightened her robes, before taking a deep, centering breath.

"Sir Valorson, your conduct is unbecoming of a holy paladin of Iomedae. While your... enthusiasm is commendable, it would serve you well to take a more considered approach. You are quite capable of sensing the emanations of an evil presence; if you were paying more attention, you would note there are none here. So put that pig-sticker away before you hurt someone with it, and sheath your arrogance before you are censured for it."

The tableau remained frozen a few moments longer, no-one quite daring to move after that. The first to finally break the stillness was Cerkal, who carefully sheathed his longsword, red-faced and with his head hanging in shame.

"You are right, of course, Sister. I apologise for such unbecoming conduct in front of one such as yourself. And to you..." he hesitated, but eventually left it at that, apparently unable to find a respectful descriptor for the orc that he could bring himself to say, "I apologise for any misunderstandings that have happened here, or any hardship I may have caused you."

Dae watched with amusement as the paladin fidgeted, his discomfort visibly deepening for every moment that the orc just stared at him in silence. With great deliberateness, the orc finally said something, her voice a deep rumble.

"Do not trouble your heart overly, Sir Valorson. I assure you, I am used to it."

Silence reigned again after that. _It's like it spills out in waves from her,_ Dae thought, eying the orc thoughtfully. _She's just so... centered. And that rumbling voice of hers is practically hypnotic._

This time, Istari was the one to break the silence. "Is there anything we can do to help you..." she glanced at the wolf sitting at the orc's feet "wise woman?"

"My same is Durra Windspeaker, and I have come to ask aid of your god, good priestess. Our refusal to worship Lamashtu angers her, and she inflicts my tribe with madness and deformities to try and reclaim them. As the shaman of my tribe, I have been left unharmed so that I might suffer to watch my people pay for our worship. I have asked for guidance from Trudd, but he adheres closely to his father and I have been given no answers."

"Unfortunately, Durra, I do not know what we could possibly do for you. I am not sure Iomedae would be any more willing to break Torag's policy of non-interference than would your own deity, and the temple itself has little to offer you. As I was just saying to Sir Valorson here, we don't even have any couriers at hand. We've been trying to get a missive to Korvosa, but the couriers keep going missing... none of the city couriers will do it, either, because no word has arrived by that route for over a month, and none of the patrols the city has sent have returned either."

"Why don't we clear the route for you, then?" Jirin piped up.

"You would do that for us?" Sister Istari seemed surprised.

"Well, we all seem to be fairly competent adventurers, no? I mean, Durra here has already traveled a long way to get here, to name one."

"I suppose, if you are willing to do this work, then I must be glad. Take care, though. You know nothing of what you may encounter there, except that it is not safe." The priestess turned to Cerkal. "And you, Valorson, go with them. If you can clear the way, then it would solve your problem also, and whoever is causing these problems cannot be of Iomedae's will."

"Travel with-?" Cerkal began, a little indignantly, but took one look at Sister Istari's expression and his mouth clamped shut. "Of course, Sister. As you command."

"As for you, Durra, I will pray that Iomedae may shed some light on your dilemma, or convince one of the other gods to do so. I am sorry I can provide no more help than that. Have you tried some of the other temples?"

"Many."

"Then perhaps the wilds will hold answers for you that you have failed to find in civilisation. I wish you luck on your quest, wherever it may take you."

"You are very gracious, Sister."

Jirin nudged her side. "You'll come along too, right?" Dae gave him an exasperated glare.

"And why should I?"

"Aww, c'mon Dae, I know you. Always looking for something... or someone... interesting. If you won't do it for the sense of adventure, come along so you can watch my ass."

"Please. We grew up together. I have no interest in your ass."

"This is not likely to be a short journey. I have no desire to spend it listening to you two fawn over each other," Cerkal interrupted, sweeping past. Dae eyed him as he walked away.

"You know," she said. "I have no idea where he's going. He doesn't actually know where any taverns are."

"Well, me and Durra here are already staying at a good one. We'll just have to go save him and show him the light, won't we?"

Dae pondered this. She really wanted to let him get himself a little bit lost first, but he'd already been sent to the Shadows once today and she couldn't guarantee that someone wouldn't get their head chopped off if anyone tried to do it again. She sighed.

"Alright, I guess I'll help old and wise here babysit the two of you. Let's go, then, before we lose track of him."


	4. I - Chapter Four

Jirin crouched down and surveyed the ground in front of him. His fingers brushed lightly, tracing a shallow gouge in the ground. It had rained last night – not too heavily, so the tracks weren't totally destroyed, but it was enough to obscure them. There were some indents that might have been footprints, and this... a tail, dragged along the ground? Or someone's boot, similarly dragged?

Kadien nuzzled along his thigh, whining quietly. They could both sense the others watching them, waiting for some kind of indication of what had happened here, but Jirin couldn't give it. He stood, frowning uneasily and shaking his head.

"I don't know. Honest to god, I really don't. That rain last night had faded the tracks too much, and washed out too much of the smell for Kadien to track it. It might be the scene of a fight, but it's hard to say whether I'm _actually_ getting that from what's left, or whether it's just because that's the only real reason I can think of for this place to be deserted."

They'd been picking their way along the Yondabakari river for about four days now, and were nearing Sanos forest. The road, which was the most direct route between Magnimar and Korvosa, was unusually quiet, and they had had very little company on the road. The closer they got to the forest, the fewer they saw on the road, and the more they were warned by settlements and farmsteads along the route that something was amiss to the east.

This was a first, though. As they'd rode up to the farmstead to rest and water their horses, they'd found the place inexplicably deserted. The place hadn't been looted, nothing was damaged, nothing seemed to have been packed and taken away.

The only real thing out of place was that the animals had all been let loose. It can't have been more than two or three days ago, and many of them were still hanging around their familiar fields and good grazing. Eventually they'd all wander off, but as far as Jirin could glean, they'd been well-cared for and not abused, so it would take a while for them to finish scattering.

"I can say I disagree with you there," Dae said, her heels kicking gently against the fence she was sitting on. "Why would a whole family just... up and walk off without any of their stuff? Seems much more likely someone took 'em, but who'd bother with someone out in the middle of nowhere like this?"

Durra leaned her weight onto her staff and inspected the tracks as well. The disturbed area lay in the middle of the dirt "courtyard" between the farm buildings, with a few tracks that seemed to lead in the general direction of the forest. Of course, it wasn't a small forest, so that wasn't really saying much.

"If there was a fight here, it can't have been more than two, maybe three people," she rumbled eventually. "There are too few tracks for more."

"But a lot more than two or three sets of tracks going away," Jirin mused.

"So what, the rest went willingly? Perhaps they were arrested." Jirin rolled his eyes mentally. That _would_ be Cerkal's conclusion.

"Or perhaps they were kidnapped at knifepoint. Or charmed," Dae pointed out. "Sanos is a gnome forest, after all, and from what I've heard they're far from the only fey in there. Fey get grabby sometimes, right?"

"The whole family?"

Only silence greeted the half-elf's statement. Finally, Dae sighed.

"Let's just face it, we don't know what happened here. We _do_ have a pretty good clue here, though, that this is probably where the disappearances are taking place." She wrinkled her nose a bit. "Several clues, actually. Why don't we just strike north a bit and go to Nybor? Hopefully the entire villiage hasn't disappeared and, if they haven't, they might know what's going on."

Jirin watched as Dae and Cerkal started loading the horses again and rubbed his arms. It was supposedly summer, but there seemed to be an unnatural chill to the air. He glanced over to the forest with a sense of forboding. Something wasn't right, here. He just couldn't put his finger on what.

"The spirits of the land are restless here."

Jirin started at the sudden noise so close behind him – he hadn't noticed Durra approaching.

"Yeah," he eventually replied. "Yeah, you got that one right old lady. My hairs are standing on end, and Kadien's reluctant about going any further."

"We will root out whatever evil has come to rest in this place."

"And if we can't?"

"We must."

The sun was starting to slip below the horizon as they rode into Nybor. It was a small farming town, about five hundred strong. Things were eerily quiet and subdued right now, though, and those who were still out seemed to be hurrying about their business as the light slowly faded. Jirin shivered as the breeze picked up and chill danced along his exposed arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Durra wrap her robes more tightly about her.

They dismounted and walked their horses toward the small tavern. The villiagers they passed were stressed and nervous, but not hostile, and their greetings garned small nods and strained smiles. There wasn't anyone to take their horses, but the doors to the stable and the feedbox were unlocked.

As they stepped back out into the cool dusk air, Kadien's ears suddenly went flat to his head and he started whining. Glancing over, he saw that Sheera had her muzzle firmly against the ground, paws overs her ears. Jirin put a hand to the paladin's chest to stop him going any further.

"Get your hands off-!"

"Wait." The command was quiet and composed, and cut across the paladin's raised voice sharply. Cerkal's mouth snapped shut with an audible clack. "Don't move. Something's wrong."

Jirin's eyes scanned the streets in front of them. They were completely empty now, and silent. Nothing moved.

Despite his sharp half-elven hearing, it was several long moments after the wolves' distress before he heard it. In the distance, a faint strain of music. Of pipes. That should mean something to him, but right at this moment he couldn't put his finger on what – and he wasn't going to waste his time trying to work it out. Swiftly he pulled out his bow and nocked an arrow, searching around for the source of the sound. Dae looked at him, confused.

"There's something out there. Don't know where yet. Get ready."

She nodded and two daggers were suddenly in her hands. Jirin didn't know where she'd pulled them from – never did, with her. He swore there couldn't have been room for as many daggers as that woman seemed to carry on her person, but... well, manifestly, there was. He only had half an eye on her as she slipped into the shadows cast by the tavern in the low light, most of his attention focused in the direction that the sounds seemed to be coming from.

Jirin stood tense and ready as the music steadily rose in volume. It was a lilting, joyful tune, but the hollow, echoing tones that blended into it as bounced down the streets ahead of the player gave it a sinister feel. It had a compelling, jig-like quality, and Jirin could feel it tugging at his feet, telling him to move, to come with us... come dance with us...

He shook off the suggestion with a growl. Those had to be satyr pipes, and they had to be close. They couldn't actually start affecting you until they were _well_ within bow range...

Jirin spotted movement and fired. The arrow hit home, and the tune faltered a bit, though it didn't fail. New notes started to wend their way around the old ones, a much more sombre and measured tune, yet somehow the two harmonised perfectly. This new one laid a feeling of peace over the area, of quiet, just rest your eyes a moment all is well...

This, too, Jirin shook off. _No measly fey is going to take _my_ mind,_ he thought.

Next to him, he heard Durra start chanting, her hands laid on the paladin's shoulder. A glow built around the contact between the two of them, and then briefly flared. As soon as the spell was complete, the paladin roared and charged at the injured satyr, slashing at him with his longsword.

From the left Jirin heard a cry, and the lullaby tune ended sharply. It seems Dae managed to work out where the other one was. As the jig tune faltered and finally ended as well, the small open space formed by the intersection was plunged into... well, not silence, but something that felt much like it. The sudden, palpable absence of a sound that had permeated deeply into the background noise.

Jirin whipped around as, heralded by the sound of high-pitched giggles, two pookas suddenly burst from around a corner to the right. Quickly nocking another arrow, he sent it flying at the new assailants. The two both suddenly changed direction though, parting and flying off in different directions. The arrows passed between them and landed harmlessly on the ground.

The wolves, no longer distressed by the music, each took off after one of the flying, rabbit-like girls. The pookas were faster, but they'd have to close with _someone_ in order to do any damage. If all Kadien and Sheera managed for the time being was to keep them moving, that would do.

Dae came streaking past as he sent another arrow flying. She was closely pursued by the second satyr.

"Cover me!" she shouted. Durra steeled herself and took a firm grip on her staff. As the pair ran by, she whalloped the satyr heavily around the head with it. As it went down, she shoved the end of the staff into its gut for good measure.

The fight didn't last much longer after that. The paladin soon incapacitated his satyr, Jirin managed to shoot down one of the pookas with the aid of the wolves, and Durra and Dae took care of the other satyr. The second pooka, seeing the tide of battle no longer in its favour, turned tail and fled.

In the wake of the battle, as Durra applied her healing magics to the other two, Jirin knelt down to inspect the corpse of one of the satyr. His sense of unease had become a sick feeling in his gut, and it only grew as he studied the body in front of him.

The usual healthy tan of a satyr's skin was nowhere to be seen here, replaced instead by a sickly wan white. Where the skin could be seen, that was. All over its body, there were large patches of some kind of disgusting black mold. Greasy ropes of the black fungus trailed from its body too, some connecting the patches of mold and some just trailing limply on the ground. The smell of sickness and rot rose from the body to make him gag, but it wasn't grave rot. The satyr wasn't an undead – this smell was the rot of something living being eaten away, the smell of infection or gangrene.

He was, at least, smart enough to not take a deep breath around such a smell. He moved a few paces away before trying to supress the urge to vomit. It took a while.

"Burn it," he croaked, when Dae gave him a quizzical look. "Burn all of them. Now." Dae quickly relayed this message to the others; Durra, taking one look at the bodies, endorsed it with a solemn nod.

"Are you okay?" Dae asked quietly. The smell of the burning fungus reached his nose, and he gagged.

"Don't know. Don't think so. I think I might hurl."

"Well, just don't expect me to give you a comforting hug then. If you're gonna puke, I'm not offering up my breasts as a target."

He gave her a weak smile."Fair enough."

"What did this?" Cerkal demanded as he strode over to the pair. "Why did they attack us? Why were they covered in... black... stuff?"

"I'm not sure, but I'd guess that your first question has something to do with your second. It looks like some kinds of... fungus, or rot, or something. The fey... they usually keep to themselves. This isn't... this isn't like them, isn't right. I've known satyrs to lure an unwary maiden away from a path or farm – often,in fact – but not from in the middle of a town. And not like this, in a way that would call many people to follow them."

"Sinful, chaotic things, the fey," Cerkal mused. Jirin glared. The paladin didn't make any more comment, but he didn't need to. They'd all worked out by now how much the paladin loathed lawbreakers and chaos, and the fey followed no man's laws. They were the heart of the untamed wilds, and thus untameable themselves. Of _course_ that's something the man would object to.

In a couple of nearby houses, Jirin could see faces peering hesitantly out the windows. The owners of those faces were still reluctant to come out in the open, though. During the fight, the sun had finished setting, and he heard Durra quietly mumbling the Light spell to provide a little illumination for those with merely human senses.

Getting away from Cerkal, Jirin strode into the tavern. Given that everyone had known to get indoors by dark, he was willing to bet good money this wasn't the first attack the town had suffered. Hopefully, they'd be able to get more information from someone here.

As he entered the room, though, he found it deserted. Eyebrows raised, he searched around a little bit and found his explanation in a snoring barkeep behind the counter. Must have fallen prey to the second satyr's song before they managed to stop it. Stepping behind the counter, he put a hand to the man's shoulder and started shaking, trying to rouse him. It took a few seconds, but eventually the scrawny barkeep's eyes blinked blearily open. Jirin stomped hard down on his initial reaction – the red, cat-slitted eyes that greeted him were somewhat... perturbing. Dae had warned them, though, that Nybor was sanctuary for a large number of half-breeds. This man was no doubt a tiefling, and it probably didn't make a damned difference to his abilities as barkeep.

"Hmrh? Whossat?" he mumbled blearily.

"I'm Jirintel. There are others with me. We just got into town around sunset. I was hoping you could tell me more about the satyrs who turned up?"

The barkeep blanched. "You were outside for that?" he said, sitting up.

"Yes, but we can take care of ourselves. They're dead now, and the bodies burned."

He breathed a sigh of relief, though his face was still tinged with strain. "Good... that's good. It's something, at least. More of them will be back, maybe tomorrow, maybe the night after. But at least it means no-one got taken tonight."

The others filed into the bar room just as the barkeep was standing up behind the counter and dusting him off.

"Mind telling us what the hell is going on around here, mister...?" Dae asked as she strode over to the bar.

"Just call me Trakiv. Honestly, we're not really even sure ourselves what's going on, or why this is happening."

"Well, just tell us what you _do_ know, from the start."

Trakiv took a deep, bracing breath. "Well... first thing was probably that sick tree Jasper found. He said it looked like some kind of blight had got into it, and that it was covered in some kind of black fungus. He wanted to burn it down so the blight wouldn't spread, but the forest's Hamadryad and Erlking have banned unnatural fires in the forest without prior permission. Don't want them going out of control, burning down stuff they're not meant to."

"So why didn't the Hamadryad give him permission?" Jirin asked, perplexed. "Surely the fey wouldn't want a sickness in their trees any more than the town would."

"Well, see, it's not that she said no. Jasper tried to go ask, but turns out the both of them had up and taken off three days before. We've got no idea where they went, and if any of the forest fey do, they're not telling us. A couple days later, it had spread to a few of the nearby trees, and... when Jasper went to go check on them, one of the dryads attacked him. He managed to get away, barely. Said she looked really sick, really pale. Crazed, too, like maybe she was hurting a lot or something. Was one of the dryads he'd talked to before, down there, and he said he'd never seen her act that way."

"Where is this Jasper now? I'm guessing he was a ranger of some sort as well, yeah? Can we talk to him?"

"Yeah... yeah he was. Can't talk to him, though. About a week after that they started coming, taking people in the night. We don't know why, or what for. No-one's seen any of them again. Jasper was taken on the first night, heard one of the pixies say to him that his darling was waiting for him. Figured she must've meant that dryad, cause the fey aren't dumb, but Jasper sure had no sweetie here in town. They've taken a lot of people since then... mostly gnomes. I'd say they've probably taken about... fifty, sixty people?"

"Is there anyone else we can talk to? Who might be able to give us some indication of what to do next?"

"I... I don't know. Maybe the gnomes who live in Sanos itself? If any of them are still around..."

Jirin gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. "Sanos is a big forest. I'm sure there's still gnomes around in there. In the meantime, we'd probably better bunk down for the night. Do you think they'll be back tonight?"

"I don't know. Probably not, I'd say. Not a lot of people travelling through right now, so I've got plenty of room for you. Don't have any dinner to offer you, though, unless you fancy cold bread and cheese. Not much point cooking up something big when no-one's passing through and no-one comes in after dark. Might be able to manage some cold roast boar from lunch, though."

"Sounds wonderful, Trakiv. We'll take it up in our room. It's been a long day, and I get the feeling the ones to come might be even longer."


	5. I - Chapter Five

Dae quietly pushed open the door to her room. It was the middle of the night, and bright moonlight poured in through the windows to illuminate the room, pooling on the ground in large patches of silver.

It was warm, but the air was still and Dae was restless. The stillness felt suffocating, and she was hoping to find some fresher air outside. She moved silently, not wanting to wake any of the others, but she spotted Jirin already in the landing.

"You couldn't sleep either, huh?" Dae murmured as she approached him. Jirin jumped a bit, startled.

"You move too bloody quiet. Gonna give me a heart attack some day," he grumbled. "It's too cold to sleep."

Dae looked at him askance. "What are you on about? It's the middle of summer. It's so warm I feel like I'm gonna die."

He shrugged. "I don't know, I just keep feeling this really chilly breeze. Durra's been feeling it too. Maybe it's just got something to do with this blight. It's not natural. I've never seen anything like it."

Suddenly, Kadien – who had been lying quietly next to the stairs, head on his paws – raised his head and started growling quietly. Jirin looked sharply at his companion. Dae, however, was looking down the stairwell, where the quiet sound of voices filtered up from the bar room below.

She shot Jirin a look and inclined her head toward the stairs. He gave a firm nod, and together the two of them slowly crept down the stairs.

"- wonderful news, Yanor! How'd you get away from them?"

"I, er, well... I don't want to think on such things."

"Oh, of course, I'm sorry. So rude of me. Here, where's my hospitality? Sit! Take that big robe off, you must be sweltering in this weather. I'll get you a pint."

"I'd... I'd rather keep it on. I think I caught something, out there in the forest, not feeling well."

"Really? What are you still doing up then? Go! Lie down, get some rest."

"Honestly, Trakiv, I'll be fine..."

Suddenly, the stair Jirin was standing on creaked. Dae glanced back at him with disgust – at least he had the decency to look shame faced. The noise was greeted with silence downstairs.

"Who was that?"

"Oh, probably just one of the wolves. Got a few adventurers into town today, they're laid down upstairs right now. I tell you, it's like a breath of hope. I feel like we might actually see an end to... what is it, Yanor? What's wrong?"

Dae swore quietly as she heard the sound of a blade leaving its sheath from down below. She quickly pulled two daggers out from their hiding places. Jirin gave her a quizzical look.

"What, do you _sleep_ with them, too?"

"A couple of them, yes," she replied quietly. "That's not the point right now, though. Please tell me you're carrying something too."

"Well, I strapped my rapier on when I got out of-"

"Good. Now!"

Dae rushed down the stairs. She could still hear Trakiv babbling downstairs, and hoped she'd get down there soon enough not to hear it end.

"What are you doing, Yanor? What the hell do you need that pigsticker out for? Yanor? Yanor?! What... what is... what's wrong with you?!"

Dae and Jirin came spilling out the bottom of the stairs just in time to hear a gurgling scream. Trakiv's eyes were wide with pain, shock and fear. In front of him stood, presumably, Yanor, a knife buried deep in the other man's gut. As they entered the room, he pulled it back out and turned to them, snarling.

"Durra! Cerkal!"

Dae ignored Jirin's roar, focused on the situation in front of her. She grimaced. There might have been places to hide, but she had Yanor's full attention. She wasn't going to be able to hide from him.

The decision was quickly made for her. Before she could act, Yanor was rushing toward her, dagger outstretched. Behind her, Dae could hear heavy stomping coming down the stairs – someone must have been awake enough to hear Jirin.

As the small robed man came rushing at her, Dae ducked and slashed at his legs, making him screech with rage. As she bobbed back up, she finally got a good look at him. It looked like he was – had been? - a gnome. At this point, though, he was covered in the same black, greasy patches of fungus that the earlier fey had been. The sight made her blanch.

Dae had never had an awful lot to do with the fey – she was a city girl born and bred, after all. Gnomes, though... she'd known a lot of gnomes, and gotten along well with not a few of them. Always looking for new and exciting things... and they often weren't at all averse if those things included a good tumble. She'd heard that gnomes had more than a little bit of fey In them, but it hadn't occurred to her that whatever was infecting the local fey could infect the local gnomes, too.

Over the infected gnome's head, she gave Jirin a nod, and he nodded back. The half elf lunged, stabbing at the small form, and Yanor was stuck trying to divide his attention between two assailants on opposite sides of himself.

Dae was far from averse to taking advantage of that distraction, and wasted no time slipping her daggers into her opponent's back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Durra rushing towards Travik's fallen – and, fortunately, groaning – form.

She didn't quite catch what happened next. Yanor made some kind of twisting motion with his hand, and then suddenly Jirin was screaming with pain, hands held near his face as if he wnted to clutch it but not quite touching. Through the gaps in his fingers, Dae could see something dark dotting his face, thin trails of blood starting to trickle down from each black point.

The gnome tried to use the distraction to run away, but Dae snarled and lashed out with her dagger as he went past her. The strike was a lucky one, blade slipping through the side of his neck, and he only made it a few steps further before he dropped.

She nudged lightly at the body with one booted toe, giving it a look of disgust, before turning to see how Jirin was doing. The half elf was looking incredibly forlorn, wincing as he carefully tugged what appeared to be small thorns out of his face, one by one. He gave her a puppy dog look and a small whimper, and she grinned.

"Oh come on, you've fallen into a bramble before. This can't be any worse."

"Yes, but I've made a point of _not_ falling into brambles ever since, if you'll recall. The experience didn't agree with me. I mean, what will become of my beautiful face if it is so often subjected to such atrocities?"

"I'm sure your dashing good looks will survive. They always seem to."

His heart didn't seem to be as into the lighthearted teasing as much as it usually was, though, and he paused briefly in his thorn extractions to chafe at his arms. Dae spotted the motion, but made no comment. She hadn't seen him in a few years, after all, since he had left to become a ranger. He still had the teasing, jovial manner, but he was much more serious these days. And clearly, his new abilities left him open to - and deeply affected by - whatever was going on here.

Instead, she left him to his own sad but perfectly capable ministrations and went to check on Durra and Trakiv. The latter, fortunately, was sitting now, and while he looked quite pale still, he nonetheless looked very healthy for a gut wound victim.

"What... what happened? Yanor..."

"I gather he was someone you knew?"

"Yeah... he was a carpenter. Decent man, amazing hand with a piece of wood. Liked to give the kids who came to watch him little buttons in the shape of butterflies. Hardly a family in the villiage doesn't have some piece of clothing with butterfly buttons. He was taken about five nights ago now... but I don't understand, what happened? Why would he..."

"It looks like Yanor was infected by this blight too."

What little blood remained to do so drained from Trakiv's face, leaving him so pale as to look like death walking. Dae felt a small bit of grim satisfaction that her reaction wasn't a unique one. Most people knew that a sick forest would lead those fey bound to the forest to become ill as well, but gnomes weren't like most fey. They didn't "count". They were people, just like humans and elves and dwarves... but apparently, not quite.

_Either that, or we are going to be in for a much, much nastier surprise very soon,_ Dae mused. She heartily hoped it was the former. The idea of facing all the gnomes who had been taken from the villiage was bad enough – facing _everyone_ who had been taken, in addition to the other dangers that awaited, was a thought that made her blood run cold. This mission was shaping up bad enough as it was. Fey were dangerous enough to deal with without something making them actively malevolent.

"But... how... what...?"

"We don't really know any more than you do, remember? We just got here. And killing something does not, unfortunately, grant you magical knowledge about them."

Trakiv opened his mouth as if to say something, thought better of it, and closed his mouth again. He wrapped his arms around his knees, withdrawing into himself. Jirin, finished with his de-prickling, wandered over and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's leave him to process and get some rest, eh?" he told her quietly. He glanced over at the stunned and quiet man. "This is his home. Whatever is going on here, means a lot more to him than it does to us."

Dae nodded and slipped off the barstool she was sitting on. As she turned to face the bar room again, a loud clanking sound came from the stairwell. After a couple of moments, the sound materialised itself as their tardy paladin.

"What on earth took you?" Jirin asked, astounded.

"Did you think I slept in my armour? It takes time to put on."

Jirin's mouth opened and closed a few times, helpless. There was really too much wrong with that to start explaining any of it.

Durra stood, her ministrations to the barkeep finished. "Shall we leave now?"

"No... we'll still wait until morning," Jirin said, and glanced back at Trakiv. "As far as I can tell, these blighted fey are more active at night. So we'll get our moving done during the day, when we'll encounter less of them. _Especially_ since we're looking to go _into_ the forest they're coming out of. Even if we avoid the blighted parts of the forest, it's still going to reduce our ability to see danger coming."

"We should probably set some kind of watch," Dae said, nodded her head pointedly at Yanor's corpse in the corner.

"Cerkal can take the first watch, since he's all suited up and ready now," Jirin replied dryly.

Dae eyed Cerkal carefully. His lips were pursed, but the only reply he gave to that was a sharp nod. She wished he didn't wear plate, it made it that much harder to read him. He didn't look too happy about the situation, though. What part of it, however, Dae couldn't guess. Maybe he disliked taking night watches? Maybe he didn't like Jirin ordering him? Or, hell, maybe he was just concerned that setting someone with merely human vision to a night watch wasn't a good idea. A point which had its merits, but so did Jirin's, and at least one of the people with better night vision had already lost a lot of sleep. At least Cerkal didn't seem inclined to cause trouble over whatever it was right now.

She just hoped there wouldn't be any trouble later, either.


	6. I - Chapter Six

The next morning, Jirin was up and ready to go as soon as the sun's rays had barely begun to illuminate the sky. Loud and brusque, he went into each of the others' rooms in turn and woke them up, prodding them along to get them going.

Cerkal seemed especially unhappy with the rude awakening, but just growled that if Jirin wanted them ready so fast, he could bloody well help do up this armour.

Dae blinked sleepily and gave him a pout, but he knew better, and was not the least bit surprised when she ended up leaving the room ready barely two minutes after he left it. He knew she'd never actually allow herself to be caught off guard like that – Dae was one of those who always slept with one eye open. Like a cat. As much trouble as one too, sometimes.

Durra was the easiest of all; it seemed that the crack of dawn was her usual meditation hour, so the orc was already awake, if occupied. Even for Jirin, it was a _little_ disconcerting to see Sheera seated directly in front of her, staring at the shaman with an intensity that shared more in common with a dragon than a common wolf.

The sun was barely starting to peek over the horizon by the time they were all ready to go. Before they left the inn, Jirin madesure to pause by the bar and leave five gold coins on the top.

"But... I don't even charge this much for a stay where the guests _don't_ get attacked during the night!" Trakiv protested.

"I'm no miser," Jirin said lightly, but firmly. "And it seems like someone in this town could use some good news. Believe me, I can more than afford to part with this much, and you're going to need it much more than we will. I just hope that we'll be able to provide better news than a few pieces of shiny metal, soon. Besides, I don't think taking the horses into the forest will be a good idea, so we'll need to keep them stabled here a while. Consider it a down payment, and if we don't come back to give you the rest, keep the horses."

"Good luck, and good ventures," the bar keep eventually said, tucking the coins away with a firm nod. "And may Desna guide your path."

The whole party was silent as they filed along through the town's streets. As sun trickled along the streets, the residents started to cautiously poke their heads out and start their day, but the streets were still very empty, and what few people were risking being out so early gave such a purposeful procession through their town a wide berth.

As the trees ahead loomed closer and closer, the neat rows of houses stopped abruptly. The residents of Nybor were unwilling to encroach upon the mystical forest they bordered, and a wide swath of grassland seperately the two, occupied only by a few cabins that had probably housed goatherds or shepherds. There were no animals to be seen now, though, and given what they had seen thus far, Jirin wasn't terribly surprised.

He tried not to let his feet drag as the trees began to tower over them. The delineation that marked the start of the forest was a sharp one here, at the fey had respectively kept new saplings from encroaching on the town's land as meticulously as those in town kept their buildings from encroaching on the forest. As a result, all the trees before him were large, old and well-rooted trees, their great canopies catching all the best sunlight and leaving the ground below them bare of grass, hard-packed dirt with a smattering of dead leaves, the last remnant of the previous year's autumn.

Despite his best efforts, Jirin's feet planted themselves firmly on the last verge of the grass, safely just beyond the forest. He could feel the power of the forest pressing against him, making his skin feel tight and dry. There was no mistaking that this forest was a home to the fey, old and powerful.

And it did not welcome him.

"What are you waiting for?" he heard Cerkal snap from behind him, though it sounded as if it were coming from a great distance. The paladin pushed his way forward and waved a hand in Jirin's face. He ignored it, staring at the trees.

"Finally lost your nerve, have you?" Kadien growled at Cerkal's brash tone, warning him off. Jirin let a hand fall down onto the wolf's head, though, silencing him. His other hand gripped his bow more firmly. If Cerkal wanted to make a fool of himself, he saw no need to prevent it.

"That's me, just shaking in my britches," he replied, his voice vague with distraction. "Right old scary forest it is, I surely need some brave manly man to show the way."

The paladin seemed vaguely suspicious of this proclamation, but nonetheless turned on his heel and stalked into the forest. Jirin held his breath as the other man passed under the first tree.

Something went _plink_ on the paladin's armour.

Kadien snarled beside him, and Jirin picked out the flash of movement in the tree above. He quickly nocked an arrow and swung his bow up to point at it in one fluid motion.

"Why do you attack us? We mean you no harm. We mean only to heal the sickness in the forest."

From the corner of his eye he spotted more movement, and he flicked his bow to aim in that direction instead. From out of one of the nearby trees stepped a beautiful dryad... arrow point first. Amongst the branches above them, several tiny elf-like creatures only a foot in height each appeared, every last one of them carrying a small spear in its hands. He was somewhat bemused that they would suddenly present such an open target, but truly it probably made little difference. Hitting such a small target from down here would be, at the very least, incredibly difficult. Doing so before one of the various fey aiming at him hit _him_ first, would be impossible.

He carefully and slowly lowered his bow, letting the tension out of the string. When he finally stood, arms held loosely to each side with his bow in one hand and the arrow hanging loosely from the fingers of the other, the dryad inclined her head with a hint of satisfaction. Cerkal, at least, knew well enough to stay standing where he was, though he glared at Jirin and absently scratched at his neck.

"That is not what we have heard. We have heard that you will bring great pain to the forest. And already, you point weapons at us."

Jirin gave the lithe fey an exasperated look. "Do I really have to point out that you attacked first? All we've done so far is walk into the forest."

"She says you bring pain. Fire and pain."

"Who is 'she'?" Jirin asked, but the dryad just stared at him, lips firmly closed. "Look, you're not the only ones in this forest, alright? Let us go speak to the gnomes."

"The gnomes fear. They do not wish to speak to anyone."

He gestured back at the town behind him. "They would let their kin here die? Or worse. We were attacked by an infected gnome last night. Let us talk to them." This was met by yet more stony silence – and he'd thought dryads were spirits of the trees, not the cliffs. Perhaps it was more a wooden silence. He sighed. "At very least let us go _see_ them. If not a single one of the gnomes wish to talk to us, let them throw us out themselves. Or have you become no more than a glorified door keeper?"

The dryad bristled at that, but chattered at the smaller fey in a language like a babbling brook. Jirin recognised it as Sylvan, and the content as an order to hide again and let the strangers pass. She shot him a wary glare.

"Hurt no tree, harm no creature. Or my sisters will ensure you do not live to regret it."

Jirin swept her a deep, courtly bow. "I know the rules of a fey forest, m'lady. Rest assured I will harm nothing that does not harm me first." The dryad did not seem to appreciate either his humour or his melodramatic style, and shot him one last disgruntled look before stepped backwards and merging with her tree once more. Within a few moments, there was no longer any sign of any of the fey, and the forest – while still far from welcoming – no longer felt quite so forbidding.

"You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?" Cerkal asked sullenly as the rest of the party approached him.

"Actually," Jirin said, putting a hand up to the back of his neck and grinning, "I didn't. I was getting a very bad feeling, but I couldn't evenhave said for sure that _anything_ would happen, nevermind what."He noticed Cerkal scratching again and took a closer look at the man's neck.

"Huh. I thought they'd missed. Guess they didn't." When the paladin gave him a quizzical look, Jirin point to where he was still scratching. Cerkal glanced at his fingers and then, looking mildly embarrassed, hastily tucked his hand down by his side. "Looks like those little spears had something nasty on them. Got anything that can do something about that, Durra?"

"I'm sure I've got something that'll help," Dae quipped, and Jirin shot her a quelling glare, which only made her grin widely.

"Well?" Cerkal asked after a moment, as Dae hadn't moved.

"You don't want to know. _I_ don't know, and I still know that neither of us wants to know. Trust me. Durra?" Durra moved forward to inspect the rash.

"Your body is already fighting off the poison on its own," she said eventually. "It will itch, but it will not harm you." Cerkal waited, still staring at her. "I did not bring itch balm. I did not think it would be required."

"Alright then, fair enough. If there's nothing to be done about it, we'd best keep moving. Try not to scratch it too much."

Kadien and Sheera went ahead as the party set off again, sniffing around to try and make sure there would be no more nasty surprises ahead of them. The sun was starting to climb in the sky, now, and pale sunlight filtered through the leaves above to leave dappled patterns of light and shadow on the ground in front of them. Some breeze danced through the canopy, undetectable this far down, and made the pattern dance.

The next four hours of walking passed with little to note. A few sprites came out to play with Kadien, distracting him from his task as they played chase. One of them tried to lure Sheera into the game too, but the shaggy white wolf stayed stubbornly focused. Jirin occasionally flicked an eye to the branches above him, and frequently caught forgotten ones – more of the little foot high fey – following them from the safety of the trees.

Eventually, they came to what seemed to be a small, empty clearing. As they approached it, though, their three sprite followers turned to stick their tongue out it in tandem before quickly scattering. Jirin turned to watch them go.

"What chased them off all of a sudden?" he asked, surprised.

He was even more surprised when a reply came from behind him. "We do not allow them in this place. The little pests have enough room to roam without pestering us." He jumped and whirled back around, startled.

A small, pale gnome seemed to have suddenly appeared in front of him. The gnome's hair was shock-white, his eyes a pale grey, and his skin had a sort of transluscent quality to it. Overal, it gave the effect that he was, altogether, only barely there.

The gnome gave the group a faint smile. "Welcome to Dun'nebor."


	7. I - Chapter Seven

"What? This... small clearing?" Dae asked, puzzled. "But... there's nothing here."

She wasn't the only one confused by the gnome's proclamation. All four of them were staring around the forest, trying to spot anything more worthy of note than a small gap where there wasn't trees. Admittedly, in a forest the size and age of Sanos, that _might_ be kind of noteworthy for all she knew, but Dae was fairly sure gnomes weren't crazy enough to name each and every clearing and expect newcomers to get excited about it.

"Well, of course. If you're silly enough to rely on your eyes in a fey forest, I am sure there is indeed nothing there." The bemused gnome waved a hand, and suddenly the trees above them started to shimmer and waver. After a moment, her vision steadied, and where before there had been only empty trees, there were now a number of small houses nestled amongst the branches, with wooden bridges and stairs connecting them. The small clearing ahead of them now revealed itself to be the point where the stairs touched the forest floor, allowing access between the ground and the small village above them.

Jirin was gaping like an idiot, and everyone looked surprised except Durra. Dae thought it unlikely that Durra had actually seen through the illusions – the village would have been visible long enough ago otherwise that she surely would have said something – and figured it probably had more to do with how entirely unflappable the other woman was.

The little gnome seemed to be taking great glee in having pulled off his dramatic reveal, and having garnered the resulting surprise. He was more composed about it than most gnomes, though – he wasn't rolling on the floor cackling yet, just chuckling a little.

"I always enjoy doing that. So many people rely on their sight for everything so much, they might as well be blind! Throw in anything unusual and they crawl around like helpless babes."

"Yes, well, you got us," Jirin replied generously, and a bit wryly. "Now that we can see your lovely home, shall we conduct our business there, or are we going to do it here on the forest floor."

"Oh, of course, of course right this way," the gnome said, leading them into the clearing and mounting one of the sets of stairs. "My name is Karidin, by the way."

"Is this the main gnome settlement in the forest?" Dae asked curiously. "I thought it would be... bigger. Further from the edge too."

"Of course not, silly girl! No, this is only a small outpost. We act as ambassadors and traders to Nybor for the rest, when it is needful, and there is only a handful of us here – about fifty, all told. No, our main settlement lies deep within the forest, and outsiders do not go there. It is a place where gnomes go to be gnomes, to try return to our roots with the fey."

Dae inspected the handrail as the group slowly climbed the stairs. It was the epitome of gnome obsession, clearly crafted at the hands of master woodworkers and druids. Living vines wrapped around the hand hold, interwoven with equisitely carved patterns, the dead wood lightly stained in some places to heighten certain effects. In one place, particularly, the living branches seemed to lie across the surface of trickling water. As she passed that stretch, she caught the peaceful sound of a flowing creek – at least one master illusionist with a hand in this too. Possibly all those masteries in a single someone; gnomes were flighty and always searching for new experiences, but 'flighty' was in comparison with their very long lifespans. A gnome could spend years pursuing a single craft with an obsession bordering on fanaticism, or even zealotry, and it showed in the buildings around them. Covered in beautiful murals and designs, yet still blending seamlessly where they met the trees that supported them, enough to make it uncertain _precisely_ where one ended and the other began. Some houses, too, had designs that flickered and danced with a life of their own.

The overall effect was, without a doubt, mesmerising.

Dae nearly ran right into Durra, who was ahead of her, when the group abruptly stopped in front of one of the houses covered in moving illusions. The walls were covered in what appeared to be a painted mural, except that it moved. A dove perched on a branch near the door turned to look at them and sang as they approached.

"Yes, yes, obviously I know," Karidin grumbled. "I really need to change the commands on that illusion so it will ignore it if I'm _accompanying_ the visitors... at any rate, here we are. Come in, make yourselves at home..."

As Karidin opened the doors to his home, Dae could see that the illusions engulfed the wall, allowing them to appear identically on both sides. The dove appeared to follow their progress with interest as they entered.

Other than the illusions, the house was quite a plain one, consisting of three mostly-circular rooms surrounding the trunk it was anchored to. The largest, central one consisted of a low oval table surrounded almost all the way around by a wooden bench with a back – sized, unfortunately, for small humanoids. Through the arch to the left, Dae could see what appeared to be a small cooking area, and the view through the arch to the right was blocked by curtains that gave the impression of being thin and sheer, but nonetheless totally obscured anything in the room beyond. No doubt that was the bedroom. The wall-illusions seemed to continue along the curtain, too. The folds of the fabric had... interesting effects on the scenery.

Karidin glanced at the seating and back at them with a mild look of surprise, as if the potential problems had only just occurred to him.

"Hmm. I'm afraid it probably won't be the most comfortable seat, but this is all I have. We don't usually entertain guests of your... stature."

"Perfectly understandable. We'll... uh... just have to make do," Jirin said, gingerly setting himself down on the benches. Dae put a hand to her mouth to hold in the giggles – he looked incredibly awkward.

"I think I'll stand." Dae leaned up against the wall behind her. It was difficult, because while her head knew better, her eyes could see a landscape, not a wall, and expected her to fall down. It didn't help that the heavy layer of illusions that had been used made her skin crawl when immersed in them. She was determined to stay where she was, though, as she had no desire to look as stupid as Jirin did right now.

Durra didn't sit on the bench, but did find an open spot of the floor and sit down there, cross-legged. Sheera lay down by her side. The position looked incredibly natural and comfortable for the two. Cerkal, on the other hand, stayed standing ramrod straight by the door, as if keeping guard, and looked quite _acutely_ uncomfortable.

Karidin disappeared briefly into the kitchen, but returned soon enough with a tray of drinks. There was a teapot and a few mugs, and the other bottle on the tray looked decidedly alcoholic. He offered the drinks around – Dae passed, as did Cerkal, but Jirin and Durra both took some tea. The gnome also took tea, but poured a capful of the mystery bottle into it. He settled in, wriggling on the bench until he was comfortable, and took a quiet sip before lowering the mug and finally addressing them again.

"So. The dryads sent ahead to warn me that you wish to speak with us, but they did not tell me what about. I am more than happy to extend hospitality to visitors – we don't get them often – but I must ask, what brings you here?"

"We want to do something about the blight."

Karidin nodded solemnly, placing the mug carefully on the table before leaning back, folding his hands in his lap.

"I thought that might be the case."

"What do you know about it?"

Karidin sighed and looked at Jirin very seriously. "This blight is not new to the fey. How it got here, we have no idea. The good news is, we do know how to cure a fey of the blight. The bad news is that it requires extremely powerful and draining magics that even the most powerful mages and clerics can perform only sparingly, and there is just no way to cure the afflicted fey faster than the blight spreads."

"Isn't there anything else that can be done?"

"No way has been found to destroy the blight without also destroying those fey afflicted by it. There have been... rumors... that there is some mystical source to this condition which, if destroyed, would take the blight with it. Unfortunately, the location or even existence of this object is not known. Wherever it is, it most certainly is not here."

"People are being taken. At least one gnome has returned to Nybor, infected. Did you know that?" Jirin asked quietly.

"I did not."

"While a quest to find that object would be a worthy search indeed, it would also be a long-term solution. It does not help those in danger here and now. And, correct me if I am much mistaken, but I'm sure it would be a very serious problem indeed if Sanos forest were to fall to the blight?"

"I see now why the dryads were so fearful," Karidin said, looking troubled. "I see your point, elf, but the gnomes are not the only peoples here. If gnomes are being infected also... at least one outpost such as this existed in the area controlled by the blight. I would ask your aid for my people, but I can neither condone nor sanction the destruction of so many of our kin. It is the place of the Hamadryad and Erlking to make decisions such as that."

"Where can we find them, then?" Karidin looked very uncomfortable at Jirin's question, and sat quietly, not answering.

"We can't, can we?" Dae interjected after a moment. "It's like we were told, isn't it? We can't talk to them, because they've taken off and no-one knows where they've gone. The king and queen of the fey in this forest, and no-one knows where the pair of them are. Trust the fey to lose their own _royalty_."

The gnome gave her a quelling frown, unhappy at her tone – and the insult to his kin. "There's no call for that. Fey go their own ways, the hamadryad included. It isn't like human kings."

"It's enough like them if you're all just going to sit on your hands because she's gone. Is there absolutely no-one else in this whole forest that we can talk to? I mean, we'd be going further to reach the other end of the forest than to go all the way back to Magnimar!"

"And if you upset the hamadryad, she might not mass every last fey along that length against you, but do you really think she'd need to?"

"As I said. That sounds enough like a human king to me."

"Look," Jirin said, interrupting their exchange. "Arguing about it isn't helpful. Karidin, is there _anyone_ _at all_ that we can talk to that might be able to help us? This blight can't be left to its own devices. Everyone nearby is suffering, and it would destroy this forest much more surely than anything we could possibly do."

Karidin hesitated for a long moment, but eventually, begrudingly, he talked.

"There might be _one_. Irinai. I can't take you to her, though. I don't know where she is."

"Is there anyone who does?"


	8. I - Chapter Eight

Jirin was distinctly cranky. He liked forests, but they did tend to be big, and he_ didn't_ like walking around looking for someone for two hours. Karidin had 'too much else to do' to help them look for the stray youngster, and Teril was 'around here somewhere', and it 'shouldn't be too hard to spot him, go on now'.

So they'd spent the last two hours looking, walking ever-widening circles out from the outpost. For anyone walking with any kind of purpose in a single direction, they were probably only about half an hour out from it now, but of course Karidin didn't know which way the young gnome had gone, and was very clear that probably no-one else did either. Asking a couple of the gnomes they'd seen on the way back down to the forest floor had supported that.

The only person in the outpost that could lead them to Irinai, it seemed, was a young gnome called Teril. Who apparently liked to go out every day and practice his craft in peace, away from all the other gnomes. What Teril's craft was, Karidin hadn't specified.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and a shower of sparks from their left, causing Jirin to start. Behind him, Dae started cackling.

"You- you jumped so high you looking like a- a damned rabbit!" she got out, with some difficulty given how much she was laughing.

"Oh shut up," Jirin growled. "Like it didn't get you, too."

"Not that bad it didn't! Besides," she added, as she managed to get the gales of laughter down to a few chortles. "I at least knew something was there. I was just about to tell you I spotted our guy." She jerked a thumb toward the direction the bang had come from, and Jirin spotted him too.

The gnome's skin was a light green colour, and his hair was a deep vibrant red, like the kind of rose that was so rich a red as to be almost the colour of blood. He looked altogether like a walking flower, really. In front of him danced four small globes of light. They bobbed and weaved around in the air, and were being chased by a pair of sprites.

"Oh, did I startle you?" Teril asked innocently. "How terrible of me, I'm sure I didn't mean to. I was just out here practicing my illusions, you see. They go awry sometimes when I'm distracted."

"I'm sure they do," Jirin replied tiredly. Gnomes. Bloody gnomes and their sense of humour. "If it's not too much of a hardship, we could use your help."

"Well, that probably depends. What do you need help with?"

"We need to find Irinai."

Teril dismissed the dancing lights and turned to them with interest. The sprites, disappointed at the loss of their game, pouted and flew away.

"And what, exactly, would you want with her?"

"We might be able to tell you that once we find out who she is. Right now, all we know is that Karidin told us she's the only one who might be able to help, with the hamadryad being gone."

"So Karidin didn't tell you anything about Irinai?"

"No, nothing. Why?"

Teril looked positively gleeful. "Oh, Uncle Karidin, you always were the best uncle a gnome could have..." He rubbed his hands together and chuckled. "Yes, yes, I can take you to meet with Irinai. Come! Come, this way. I can take you there right now."

Jirin looked at the sky, concerned. He hadn't really expected to be searching this long, and with the canopy blocking any view of the sun – and a good deal of the light- it was difficult to tell how close the sun was to setting.

"It's not far, is it? I'd like to be somewhere safe once the sun sets, if we can. I'd rather not have to face blighted fey in a forest until we're ready to do it on our terms."

"Oh, don't worry about that. They won't go _near_ Irinai. Come on!"

The gnome was already jogging off through the trees, so unless they wanted to lose their guide altogether, they really didn't have much choice. Sighing, Jirin waved the others along and started jogging after Teril's retreating back.

A few hours later, Jirin was warily eying the sky again. He was glad they all had their packs with them, as it got steadily darker – and clearer that Teril intended to stop for the night at wherever they were going. The gnome would periodically come out with comments assuring them that they'd be quite safe there, and that it was actually quite a nice place to be.

The darkening sky, however, was no longer the greatest of Jirin's worries. Well, more to the point, it both was and wasn't. The problem lay in the fact that what had been a darkening sky, seemed to be lightening right now. Then he took another step, and was plunged into deep night. As they pushed on, the changes seemed to be getting more frequent. The trees alongside them would be great oaks one moment, and saplings the next.

The fey around them fluctuated, too. Sometimes they were alone, sometimes hordes of fey traced the same path they did – though none of them seemed really aware of each other, and many crossed paths and stepped through each other, unconcerned. Only the forgotten ones that were still following them were constant.

"Is this place... haunted?" he asked hesitantly, hazarding a guess.

"Oh no, nothing like that," Teril assured him, leading them on. "It's all echoes, you see? The place we're going is not quite in time, and not quite out of it. The bits where the two meet are strained, and... well, this happens. It's not really there, time is just remembering when it was. Or will be. It's really quite fascinating stuff, actually."

"I think I prefer my time not... strained, myself."

"Well sure, if you _want_ to be boring... ah, here we are."

Jirin broke through the last line of trees only moments after Teril did, and quickly threw up an arm to shield his eyes, blinking. He could practically feel his body objecting to being subjected to high noon sunlight when it was convinced that it was early evening, at the very least, if not later. After the rollercoaster of light levels he'd just experienced, though, the objection was a faint one; Jirin was struggling to hold on to his internal sense of time, and not doing very well. After a moment of his eyes adjusting to the light, he looked around and took in his surroundings.

He was in a sizable clearing, surrounded by tall and old oak trees. It was semi-circular in shape, the trees meeting a low, sheer cliff face on the opposite side of the clearing. There was a cave entrance facing directly across from him, and at the left side of the clearing a very small waterfall tumbled over the edge of the cliff and collected in a little pool at its base before flowing away into a creek that led out of the clearing. Everything had the warm haze and golden-red tones of autumn, the whole place sitting on the tipping point between harvest, and the true decline towards winter.

In the middle of the clearing, between them and the mouth of the cave, a woman sat cross-legged. She looked almost human, but her ears had slight points, and she had a look of wilderness about her, of something not quite tame. Her body was thin, sitting on the border between lithe and frail. As they approached, Jirin could see a shallow bowl filled with water in her lap that she seemed to be staring at intently. He couldn't tell how, though, as her eyes were bound with a white linen cloth that matched her simple robes. As they came close to her, she looked up and her head moved to track them as they moved. She smiled faintly.

"Tirel. Back again, are you? But not for yourself, this time." The air around her rippled strangely, and it made Jirin mildly nauseous when he tried to focus on it, so he turned his eyes to her alone, which wasn't quite as bad.

"No, not for myself Irinai. These people here wanted to talk to you."

"Yes, I recognise them. Durra Windspeaker, who walks her path with a heavy burden. Daelyn Riddark, who gives freely and yet gives nothing at all. And of course Jirintel Lyssaniriel, in whose heart all things are held. Yes, I knew you would come to me."

"You're a seer, aren't you?" Dae asked.

"Yes, I am."

"What about me, then?" Cerkal interjected. "Have you not got anything for me?" Jirin thought he could almost feel a chill in the air as the seeress turn slowly to face him.

"Your path is between you and your gods. I watch, I learn; I do not interfere. Your path is not closed to me, but it is to you, and I will not defy that." Cerkal opened his mouth to talk, but Irinai cut across him. "You would defy your patron?" He closed it again, stalking away from the group, and she turned to face the rest of them once more.

"What is it you wish of me?"

Jirin glanced sidelong at Cerkal. "Don't you already know?" The seer smiled lightly.

"I do, but I find it is very rude and somewhat disconcerting to my visitors if I do not let them have the conversation I have seen. Besides, it gives me headaches."

"Wouldn't you already have a headache now, then? From interrupting Cerkal like that?" Dae asked.

"No, because he was never going to get to speak. Some things it does not take visions to see coming." Jirin decided he was going to leave that one alone.

"We need your help... or your advice... whatever you can give. We mean to rid this forest of the blight before things get too out of hand. Unfortunately, the problem is-"

"The problem is that the hamadryad and erlking of this forest are missing," Irinai finished for him. "I am aware of the problems that plague Sanos. I also know that the threat of angering the hamadryad would not, ultimately, sway you from what you believe is the good and right thing to do, though you seek protection from the wrath of the fey, should you incur it."

"Yes..." Jirin said slowly, considering the seeress' words. "Yes, I would say that sums it up fairly well. The blight must be stopped, one way or the other. I would rather not end up dead for my efforts, though."

"No healer can leave a festering leg wound to rot and poison the rest of the body, just because the warrior fears what will happen if he loses it," Durra rumbled. "For some of our healers, it can at times be a hazard of the work. Some warriors get very disgruntled, and do not care that not losing their leg would have meant instead losing their life."

Irinai smiled a little wryly. "Yes, I know of such things, and I know the necessity of stopping the blight. Many of my kin, however, understand only that you will bring fire, and pain, and do not understand that it is the fire that seals the wound, and the pain of setting a broken bone. Such things are designs of the civilised, and the fey are anything but. They are too primal to easily grasp such concepts, but at the same time intelligent enough to know fear, and to reject the desperation of the wolf that bites off its own leg to escape the hunter's trap until they are caught in such a trap themselves. This blight... this blight, though, is a subtle trap, and things would get much worse before many of the fey would realise that the time has come to bite our leg off. Beter to tend to it now, while we need only lose a foot."

"I will deal with my brethren," she continued. "I have tried to tell them of the healer's touch; now, I will not be so gentle. I will show them the bite of the hunter's trap, and they will not hinder you in your task. I will also send some of my messengers to the gnomes, who will aid you. The portion of the forest that is blighted is not so large compared to all of Sanos, but it is large enough that you will need aid in firing the trees, and there will need to be those who watch the edges, to be sure that the fire does not consume healthy forest. The blight must be cut out as quickly as possible, lest the infected fey escape. No more than three days; less, if you can manage."

"Now, you will need to rest. You may use the cave behind me; it is prepared specifically for such things. Prepare yourselves well, for when you leave here, the time will be that in which you must act."


	9. I - Chapter Nine

When Jirin woke again, he wasn't alone. He had been when he went to sleep, as the cave had a number of small chambers just large enough for a person – or two very friendly people – to stash their things and sleep. Instinctively, he reached for his blade, even as his mind was still waking up.

"Oh please," came an amused voice. "Like you could draw that fast enough anyway."

Jirin put his rapier back down and carefully sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Been watching me sleep, have you?" He saw Dae grin at him from where she leaned against the wall of the entrance to his little chamber.

"Something like that. Actually, I just wanted to let you know everyone else was already up and ready to go. If you hadn't woken up before much longer, I was voted the one with the responsibility to kick you out of bed."

"Voted?"

"Oh alright, so I _told_ them I'd kick you out of bed. Mostly the gnome, really, the other two didn't care. The gnome pouted, though. I'm pretty sure you owe me for sparing you from whatever he had in mind."

"I always seem to owe you for _something_."

"That's beside the point."

Jirin sighed and rubbed his temples, then peered at Dae through his fingers. "Do you mind? I'm not going to get very far without getting dressed." She flashed him another grin, but nonetheless pushed away from the wall and left him to his privacy.

When he left the cave, still belting on his scabbard, it was to find Dae waiting at the entrance for him. The others were scattered about the clearing; Teril seemed to be deeping in conversation with the faerie seeress, Durra was meditating by the waterfall, and Cerkal was on the other side of the clearing from her, thoroughly cleaning his sword. By the shine of it, he'd already cleaned and polished his armour.

"Guess I slept in, huh?" Jirin said a little sheepishly.

"According to Irinai, it doesn't matter. Whenever we leave here, we'll reach the rest of the forest at the right time. She says the gnomes from Dun'nebor that are giving us a hand will be waiting for us just outside the grove to lead us to the blighted forest, and the other gnomes will be waiting for us on the way."

"You know, this is all making me feel horribly unneeded."

"Don't worry, you're going to be plenty neeeded once we get to the fighting. The gnomes will burn down the trees, but we're going to need to kill the blighted fey that come trying to kill them. Teril's going to help us – says it'll be much more interesting that way – but otherwise, we're on our own there."

Jirin raised an eyebrow at this just as Teril, spotting him finally awake, broke off from his conversation with Irinai and wandered over.

"Finally awake then, eh? Good to see. We've all been waiting for you."

"Well, wait no longer. I finally grace you with my radiant presence. Dae tells me you're going to help us fight off the infected fey?"

"Aye, I am."

"I hope you know more than just illusions spells, then. I don't think pretty lights are going to distract them much."

"Don't worry, I've got a whole lot of evocation spells readied today. I'll have you know, though, not all illusions spells are harmless."

Jirin put his hands up. "I'll take your word for it. Just so long as you can hold your own in a fight, that's all I'm saying."

"Well, don't worry your pretty little head about that, elf. I can take care of myself just fine."

"Durra? Cerkal?" he said, raising his voice some. Cerkal sheathed his sword and stood, and both he and Durra walked over to join the other three.

"Are we ready to leave now, then?" Durra asked.

"We are," Jirin said, and watched Irinai as she placed her bowl down and walked over to them. "Presumably, anyway. You're not going to make a liar of me, are you?"

"No," she replied with a small smile. "I merely come to wish you well. I do not wish to see the end of Sanos come so soon. I have done all I can to avoid its passing, however, sending my fleet fey kin to give messages that neither you nor I would be otherwise capable of delivering in time. When you leave this place, you will guide the thread of fate that binds to this forest. Guide it well." She took his hands in both of hers for just a moment, and then let them go. Then she turned back to take her original seat again, ignoring them.

Jirin could feel something smooth and warm in his hands. A discreet glance revealed it to be some sort of amber coloured gem, with a large hole through which a string of leather could be bound. He tucked the stone into one of the currently empty pouches on his belt.

"Alright people. Let's get moving."

Leaving the grove was as strange as entering it had been, and on top of the eternal noon they'd experienced while visiting Irinai, Jirin wasn't sure his sense of time was ever going to recover. The gnomes on the other side, however, helpfully informed him that it was early afternoon.

"We should reach the blighted part of the forest not long before sunset," Karidin told them.

"Sunset? Is it really best to get started when the infected fey will be the most active?" The bleachling shrugged.

"Don't ask me. The forgotten ones led us out here at sunrise, and we've been waiting for you ever since. If this is when the grove let you out, this is when it's meant to be done."

"Stop fretting so much," Teril admonished him. "It'll be more interesting this way anyway! So let's just get going. The more we stand around here talking about it, the later it'll be when we finally get there."

"You're Karidin, lead the way."

Jirin nocked an arrow and held his bow loosely, waiting. Every muscle in his body was tense with anticipation of the fight to come. Behind him, the gnomes stood stretched in two rows. The front row held torches, already alight, and the second row held shovels, and buckets filled with dirt, sand or water. Even during daytime, the area was too dangerous to have dug proper fire breaks ahead of time, but the gnomes were ready to do everything they could to stop the fire spreading to the rest of the forest.

Before them, was the blighted part of the forest. The trees in front of Jirin looked terrible. The leaves were browning and sickly, and the trunks were covered in greasy fungal blooms and stringy ropes and vines of black. Those closest too him didn't look quite as bad, but he could nonetheless see the patchy black spreading along the trunks and branches.

The sun was low enough that, instead of filtering through the canopies, the light was trickling between the trunks. This close to the western edge of the forest, that made it moderately unobstructed, and thin rays of light shone across their field of view. Even as he watched, they dimmed visibly, fading as the sun creeped ever lower beyond the horizon.

One of the gnomes behind him held out their torch, and Jirin dipped the oil-soaked rag on the end of his arrow into the flame, setting it alight. Raising his bow again, he pulled back on the string, and waited...

_There!_ Spotting movement in the trees before him, he loosed his arrow. It struck the tree, and flames suddenly burst along its whole length with a loud _whoosh_. It seemed that whatevermade the fungus look so greasy was similar to oil itself, and highly flammable. The tree blazed like a bonfire, and Jirin heard shrieks of rage from further into the trees.

His loosed arrow, however, had been the signal everyone else was waiting for. Kadien and Sheera were the first to move, rushing headlong into the infected trees. The gnomes charged forward soon after them though, silently but with determined looks on their faces. Having seen how eagerly the first tree had set alight, they were cautious and stood back and far as they could manage, shoving their torches out to let the flames lick the fungus. Jirin was very grateful that Sanos was an old forest, with old trees; it meant each giant trunk had a good deal of space around it, so that it would at least be _possible_ to navigate between them despite the blaze. Falling debris would still be a hazard when the fire reached the canopies, though.

Next were the pixies, kicking off and flying straight up to the canopies to stop the fire spreading to the healthy trees from above. Two thirds the size of a gnome, they were capable of carrying much more than the sprites, and were therefore much more capable for this task.

He heard Teril warn people away from the section of trees to the right just before an enormous fireball issued forth from his fingers, setting a good twenty foot circle of the forest ablaze. The little gnome grinned hugely and cackled.

Cerkal and Durra both stood, feet planted, right at the edge of the burning trees, steeling themselves against the onslaught to come. Jirin couldn't see Dae anywhere, and assumed that she had probably already crept off into the trees in the wake of the wolves.

He nocked another arrow to his bow, raising it again just in time. The first arrivals were a swarm of sprites, flying through the trees with a painfully shrill shriek. They hit them like a wave crashing against the shore, crawling all over Cerkal and Durra with their sharp little swords. The two were focusing on swatting as many of the things as they could manage when a blighted fey wolverine came streaking out towards them. Jirin fired, catching the wolverine in the throat mid-jump, causing it to fall to the ground with a gurgling whine.

And then there was too much for any one person to keep track of. The blighted fey were upon them, and he quickly slung his bow onto his back and drew his rapier, diving into the fray. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted the glows and flashes of the gnome mages getting to work, casting their wards and shields, lobbing magic missiles into the surge of enemies to discourage them from attacking the gnomes busily ensuring that everything burned the way it was meant to.

Jirin pressed deeper into the forest, cutting down any blighted fey he spotted. During a lull in his fighting, while he downed a strong healing potion, he realised that he'd managed to break through the burning part of the forest and was starting to get a bit too far from the others. Just as he was thinking it though, Kadien came trotting up with a wolfy grin, Dae jogging along behind him.

"Good pup," she told him, rubbing the wolf between the ears. Kadien looked shamelessly blissful about it. When Jirin raised an eyebrow at her, she explained, "I asked him to lead me to you. I figured that you'd either be in here by now and need a hand, or things were so bad at the edge that you _couldn't_ go in deeper, and needed a hand. So, either way."

"Makes sense, I guess. I was actually just about to head back to where they're working, though."

Dae shook her head. "Don't. Sheera's been trying to get us in deeper." As she said it, Jirin noticed the larger white wolf come padding up behind them. "I think there's something in there that we need to deal with."

"Oh, so this wasn't really about helping _me_, then, was it? You just wanted someone to watch _your_ back."

Sheera suddenly lifted her head and looked back in the direction he had come from. Jirin turned to look back as well, and noticed Durra picking her way cautiously but quickly through the trees.

"Aren't you meant to be covering the gnomes?" he asked.

"The attacks have slowed somewhat. The infected fey seem less inclined to confront us head on," Durra rumbled. "Cerkal and Teril were doing well enough with the gnome wizards when I left, and Sheera seemed to feel I was needed."

"That seems... a little ominous," Jirin admitted. "Do you know why?"

The orcs shoulders gave a gentle roll that was probably a shrug. "Won't say, exactly. Just that there's something bad here we need to deal with."

"Well then..." he looked down at the white wolf, who was looking up at him expectantly. "Lead the way, I guess."

The light of the fires behind them glowed a little off Sheera's pale pelt as she trotted off into the darkness.

Although Jirin and Durra could both see well enough in the moonlit dark, as they moved further and further into the blighted forest, the shaman nonetheless stopped to murmur a moment. When she finished, the end of her staff started to glow, casting as much light as a torch would. Dae gave her a grateful smile.

Well ahead of them, Sheera looked almost like a ghost or spirit of some kind, her pale form wreathed in the darkness around her. The forest in this area was eerily quiet, and they hadn't been attacked by any of the blighted fey for several minutes. Around them, though, branches swayed and rustled in the still air. The magic in the blight was whispering through the trees like a breeze.

Jirin shivered a bit and wrapped his arms around himself. The air felt chill, and the hairs at the nape of his neck were standing on end. He felt... watched.

Suddenly, Sheera came to an abrupt halt. Durra did not stop, however, and swept forward until she was level with her companion. He thought he heard a small, quiet whine from the wolf. He shared a quick glance with Dae, and they moved to join them.

Several yards away, a point of light suddenly appeared in front of them. Inside the globe of glowing light was a single sprite, half its face covered in black fungus. Then another point flared to life, and another, and another...

Soon, they were surrounded by glowing sprites that lined the small clearing they were standing in. They hovered, or perched on branches... or stair rails.

"I think we found the gnomes settlement," Dae murmured quietly to him.

Indeed, it seemed they had. Once the clearing was fully lit, still more glows started appearing, marking the outlines of the now-abandoned buildings nestled within the trees. Whatever illusions had hidden this village were destroyed. The village itself still stood, though, completely intact but ominously still. The light of the luminous sprites provided gave the whole thing the eerie feel of a ghost town.

Slowly, the glow of the sprites at about head height surrounding the clearing started to intensify. Before long, the sprites were at their full luminosity, giving off about as much light as a torch and leaving the entire clearing fully visible, even to Dae's human eyes. They found themselves standing almost in the center of the area. Jirin spotted movement on the other side of the clearing, and turned his head to look at it.

A man strode toward them. He was about the same height as Jirin, and had the pointed ears and fine features of an elf. His skin, however, was a dusky grey, his shoulder-length hair a raven black. Horns, much like those of a satyr, protruded from his head. Most striking, though, were his eyes, which were entirely black, with no whites at all. He finally stopped several feet away from them.

"So. I had wondered who was interfering. How good of you to come to me."

"Who are you?" Jirin asked warily. "And _what_ are you? Some kind of half drow?"

The grey-skinned man chuckled. "A most entertaining thought. I am Draelefor. Beyond that, who and what I am is not really any concern of yours, is it?"

"How are you controlling the sprites? Are you blighted too?"

"Honestly," Draelefor snapped, starting to look annoyed. "You have no manners, elf. I am not here to answer questions for you. I am here to feed my own curiosity, not yours. I wanted to know who decided to spoil my little game."

"Game? _Game?_ How is something like this a _game_?"

Draelefor waved a hand dismissively at the sprites surrounding the clearing. "How is it not, little elf? Their lives are mine to play with, so why shouldn't I? I find it pleasing to watch them run around in dismay. The question is why you find it so necessary to ruin my fun. Those here are none of your concern, after all."

"Says who? I'd say that my concern is whoever I decide it to be."

"Ah, I see. One of the... bleeding heart types." The way Draelefor said it made it sound like something distasteful he'd found on the bottom of his shoe. "Really, such a bore. Your lot don't usually bother themselves with the other races so much." His eyes were drawn to Jirin's belt pouch, the one he had stashed the gem into. "Been to see the little fey witch, have you? Well, I'm sure that explains much."

Jirin's hand strayed briefly to the pouch, before dropping to his side. Draelefor smirked at him, and then turned to the other two.

"What about you, orc? What could possibly motivate you to stand with an elf in his attempts to thwart my games, hmm? And what of you, little girl? So young, so... humanly fragile. You are surely in well over your head." Neither allowed themselves to be baited, but Durra looked stonier than ever, and Dae's grip on her daggers was so tight as to leave her knuckles a bloodless white. Draelefor affected a theatrical yawn after a few moments of the tight, tense silence.

"Well, nevermind. You may have spoiled my game, but you have put on a most _brilliant_ show for me. Besides," he continued, giving them a wide grin that showed unnaturally sharp teeth, "I think I may have found a new game. When the Moonlit King drops such a ripe gift in my lap, I am not so foolish as to refuse. Ta ta for now. I promise you'll see me again."

Realising Draelefor was going to try get away, he lunged forward with his rapier. The man just grinned at him, though, and clicked his fingers. As he did, the lights of every sprite there suddenly extinguished. The rapier passed harmlessly through the space that had only a moment ago been occupied. Jirin snarled and resheathed his rapier with a satisfying _thunk_ of the guard against the scabbard. The air in the clearing seemed somewhat warmer; though there was still blight here, some important part of what had been jangling his senses was not. He glanced around the clearing, but the sprites didn't seem inclined to attack them right now.

"Looks like we're getting a free pass out of here," Dae observed. "We should probably use it and get back to the others before whoever is giving it to us changes their mind."

"You're right. Let's get on with it then. Somehow, I don't think the rest of this fight is going to be nearly as difficult anymore."


	10. I - Chapter Ten

They all sat in Karidin's house once more. This time, though, they were all much worse for wear, and Dae and Cerkal were far too tired to worry about protecting their dignity. Durra took the cross-legged position on the floor once more, but everyone else sat on the benches. There was also the new addition of Teril – who of course, didn't find the seating arrangements in the slightest bit uncomfortable, though he certainly needed them as badly as the others did.

In the end, they had cleared the blighted section of the forest in only two days. When they were done, the ground had been piled several inches high in ash, and the air was tinged with a grey haze. Nothing but blackened remnants remained of the once tall, proud trees. Everyone here looked about as grey as the air, and they all bore various injuries; the gnome healers were good, but their power had been stretched thin in the days that followed the assault, and anything that could safely be left to heal by more mundane means was left to do just that.

Cerkal's face was covered in bandages where the sprite swarm had managed to flay much of one side of his face with their swords. He had already been told there would probably be some scars. A deeper gouge in his side that he'd obtained later in the fighting had been more serious and unable to be ignored, but the rib that had been broken by the same blow was left to its own devices.

Dae sported a broken collarbone and the faded remains of the deep burns she'd acquired when a burning branch had broken right above her and come crashing down on her shoulder. The bone had been re-knitted enough to avoid a neck brace, but the arm on that side was to stay in a sling for a few days more.

Durra had a fractured leg, causing her staff to see more use than ever, now as a crutch. She also had a few smaller cuts and wounds bandaged in various places. Sheera, who had gotten in the way of one of the blows toward her master, now had a permanently crooked tail as an especially malicious blighted fey had taken the opportunity to heal it badly during combat.

Teril's hair had caught fire during the battle, and he now looked very odd indeed, fully bald on one side with a large plume of nonetheless very singed hair on the other. The burns to his scalp had been fully healed, but he'd been told that his hair was just going to have to grow back on its own. A full shave had been offered, but refused; the little gnome said he looked much more unusual and interesting this way.

Jirin himself was currently wearing only a loose shirt in place of his usual studded leather armor, as he'd found the armor chafed far too much across his bandaged chest. The bandages covered a shallow and non-threatening but very long and painful slash across his heart and ribs. He didn't sport any broken bones himself, but had developed a brilliantly vivid black eye that covered fully half of one side of his face in bright purples and blues. Kadien had managed to make it out of the fight mostly unscathed, aside from some singed fur that would grow back soon enough.

Karidin, sitting across from them, didn't show much in the way of any external injuries, but Jirin's sharp eyes could see that he was moving very slowly and tenderly. None of them had seen what could possibly have injured the gnome, but Durra had commented in a quiet aside the other day that she suspected the bleachling had ended up on the wrong end of a poisoned spear.

Jirin watched in silence as Karidin returned to the table, placing the tray down and sitting, gingerly. He didn't try to pass out drinks to all his visitors this time, and he put a much larger dose of alcohol into his tea than he had before.

"Well, elf, your little crusade left us in quite a state," the bleachling commented wryly. Then his expression turned more somber. "It saved this forest, though, and no doubt all our lives. I am not sure so effective a purge could have been made had we waited any longer. I mourn for Calla'tai, and for having to kill so many of our kin, but it was indeed a necessary evil."

"Indeed it was," Jirin agreed. "And I am glad that we got here just in time. I only wish it had been in time to save more."

"Don't fret over it, lad. There's no point diminishing all the lives you _did_ save that way. Now, you said there was something particular you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I did. While we were deeper in the forest, that first night, we met... a man. He called himself Draelefor, looked very much like an elf, only with grey skin, black eyes and satyr horns. He didn't tell us anything about who – or what – he was except to dismiss the idea that he could be half-Drow or something. I admit, I'd never _heard_ of a half-Drow, and the horns did seem a bit odd, but..."

"Did he say anything else that might be of import?"

Jirin thought carefully for a moment. "He implied fairly heavily that he was the one responsible for the blight coming to the forest. Said it was a game, and one he seemed to think he had every right to play with fey lives in particular."

"Ah." Karidin nodded. "I thought that might be it, but the attitude settles it. I'd say what you most likely met out there was a shadow fey. Some of the worst manifestations of the fey's wild spirit make their home in the Courts of the shadow fey. The bad ones are terrible, and even the good ones are nothing much to write home about. They recognise the sovereignty of the hamadryads, but only when it suits them. They consider themselves the rulers of all fey, even those here on the material plane. The only good thing I've got to say about them is that they don't leave their home on the Shadow Plane all that often. I've seen one before, a very long time ago. It was not a pleasant experience."

"So... it probably wouldn't be a good thing for one of them to decide you'd make a good new game and promise that you'll be seeing them again?" Dae quipped.

Karidin's face went very still. "No, it would not. I do not wish to be ungrateful to you all so soon, but I'm afraid that if you've drawn the attention of the shadow fey, I am going to have to ask you to leave Sanos. You've already seen how much that attention has devastated the forest already."

"Of course," Jirin agreed hurriedly. "We weren't exactly planning to stay anyway, and I can certainly see how you'd rather not risk something like this happening again."

"Ah..." Karidin hesitated, his face a little softer now. "That said, I do have one thing to ask of you, if you perhaps need some idea as to what to do next? The hamadryad still hasn't returned. Even with a shadow fey involved, the blight would never have spread the way it did if she had been here, and I'm afraid they might have had something to do with her disappearance, as well. If you could possibly find her... the forest would know if she had died, but it will be most unpleasant for her if she stays separated from it long."

"We can certainly try. Maybe we can get some clue as to her whereabouts out of Draelefor, whenever he turns up again. I doubt we're going to be able to do terribly much before that though. Bad enough before, when everyone thought she' and her consort had wandered off... if they've been taken? They could be anywhere now."

"The best move right now," Durra rumbled, "would probably be to return to Magnimar or forge ahead to Korvosa to spread the word that this route is safe again."

"Or Kaer Maga," Dae piped up. She glanced sidelong at Cerkal before continuing. "I'm not sure we'd all be the most... welcome, but I'm sure they'd pay us well for our trouble to know the trade route was clear again. That's more than we'd be likely to get at Korvosa and Magnimar, and the word would likely get around soon enough with the amount of trade that city does."

"How far is this Kaer Maga from Lastwall?" the paladin asked.

Dae thought for a moment, chewing her lip. "Pretty well between here and there, I'd say. A direct route would take us through Belkzen, though. We'd have to turn south toward Korvosa to find a pass through the mountains that wouldn't land us in the middle of a bunch of orcs."

"I've heard of Kaer Maga," Karidin offered. "The young woman here is probably right that the news would spread faster from there. You can almost make almost the entire trip there through the forest, and all things considered, the fey would probably ease your travels through here such that it would be faster and more comfortable than taking the roads. Turn south to Korvosa after, if you seek Lastwall."

"It does sound like the best plan," Jirin allowed a little hesitantly. Taking Cerkal into Kaer Maga seemed like asking for trouble, but Dae was right about both the rewards and which city was likely to spread the word faster, especially if they got there even sooner thanks to Karidin's offer. "How can we be sure we won't get lost, though? It's a rather large forest, and navigating by sun or stars is a little difficult when you can't really see the sky."

"I'll come with you," Teril told him excitedly. "I know my way through the forest from one end to the other, and I've heard that Korvosa is home to some very powerful and learned mages. It would be good to spend even just a few days learning from an illusionist there. Besides, I missed out on seeing this Draelefor fellow."

"You _want_ to see him?" Jirin asked, a little dumbstruck.

"Yes, well, why not? It sounds ever so exciting. I'm sure I won't ever lack for new experiences if I travel with you!"

Jirin looked around the table. Durra seemed fairly ambivalent, but every else looked firmly decided, and he couldn't see any way to get around it now.

There was absolutely no doubt that this trip was going to be trouble.


	11. PART TWO - Chapter One

**PART TWO**

They had left the last vestiges of forest behind them at first light. They had come out already flush against the enormous cliffs of the Storval Rise, which towered impressively over them. Jirin thought it couldn't possibly get more looming and daunting, but was proven wrong as they started to draw level with the city of Kaer Maga, the huge towers of its outer ring butting right up to the edge of the cliffs.

Lining the lower edge of the walls were large, ominous stone heads carved into the stone. The mouths of several hung open, water streaming out, the huge waterfalls collecting in the small lake below before being snatched away to continue along the path of the Yondabakari river. The heads served both as morbid decoration and as exits for the waterways that funneled the river safely through the city.

"I haven't actually been here before," Jirin admitted as they neared the waterfalls. "I mostly travelled north when we parted ways at Riddleport – I never got out this far east. Dae? Do you actually know how we're meant to get up there?"

"Yeah, I been here before. We're just in time, too – they stop taking people up at dusk. See? Just there at the base of the waterfall, that huge bronze gate."

The gate was flush with the cliff face and the doors opened wide, but Jirin moved a little further away from the obstructing stone and spotted the glint of the sun off the metal. As they drew closer still, he could finally see into the opening a bit, and he spotted several men and women – mostly humans – hanging around just instead the gates talking among each other. One of them spotted the group nearing them and gave a signal to the others, causing them all to stand straight and watch them.

"You looking to go up to the city?" the dark-skinned man asked once they were within easy hearing range. Jirin nodded, and the man looked over the whole group, appearing to be doing some mental calculations. "Fifteen gold, I'd say. Sera and I will take you up. Name's Terick."

Jirin handed the gold over to him as one of the women walked up, a bow strapped to her back. Her long, tawny blonde hair was pulled back into a braid that made her sharp features a blue-grey eyes look very severe. In contrast, Terick was shaved completely bald and had a pair of short swords strapped to his hips.

"We need an escort?" Jirin quipped, which earned him a smack around the head from Dae. "Ow! Hey! Don't do that."

"Then don't be an idiot. We're still not all quite fully healed, and even if we were, the Halflight path isn't anything to laugh at. It's dangerous in there, especially this close to sunset."

"Your friend there is right," Sera agreed. "There's a reason we Duskwardens are here to escort travelers up, and close the gates at dusk. Even then, we still lose travelers along the path occasionally. Here, you'll all need one of these." She passed out five glowing crystals tied to leather thongs. "If you're in danger and need help and we're not there, hold onto it and mentally call out for help. We'll hear it, and the charm will tell us where you are. At that point, we'll get to you as fast as we can, but you'll have to keep yourselves alive until we get there. The wolves can't use these, so try to keep them close, okay?" Everyone nodded as they slipped the charms over their heads.

"Alright then," Terick said. "Let's get moving then. No use in wasting what little daylight we have left."

Even in the height of summer, with heat hanging in the air, the cave system the group walked into was quite chilly, the heavy stone in the walls, floor and ceiling leaching all the heat out of the air, especially as sunset approached. The trip was conducted mostly in silence; the periodic sounds of scratching at the other side of the Duskwarden-created barriers blocking off dangerous side tunnels regularly highlighted the wisdom of this policy. There was plenty to occupy the mind, however, as the walls of the cave were frequently decorated, in styles ranging from simple cave paintings in some of the older natural caves to complicated frescoes in the more recently man-made tunnels. Not to mention the places where the caves broke into open air and the path continued for a time along the cliff face. The view of the river and plains below was absolutely stunning, and only became more so with each subsequent look as the group climbed higher and higher.

Fortunately, this time the journey through the Halflight path was an uneventful one. After an hour of navigating winding tunnels and paths, they found themselves in the Duskwarden Guildhouse, a heavily fortified bunker that seemed ready to withstand any attack from above or below.

"Here's where you get off," Terick told them. "You're not actually _in_ the city, but you're only just outside it. The Warrens are that way." He pointed. "As you'll see once you're out there, the ring's broken there, so you'll be able to walk right in."

"Thanks," Dae said. "We'll probably be back this way in a few days' time. Maybe we'll see you again then."

"Maybe," he agreed. "Goodbye, then, and good business."

They stepped out of the bunkers and were suddenly hit by the dry, arid winds of the plateau. It was a shock to the system; only this morning, they'd been in the midst of a forest, and even most of their journey to the base of the waterfall had been marked by grassy, fertile land. Now, only an hour of walking later, they were suddenly in a featureless expanse of dry and dust. Well, featureless except for Kaer Maga, although the feeling of moisture-sucking dryness hung around even the city like a cloud. Cerkal looked as stunned as Jirin felt; Teril just looked fascinated.

"You don't seem too surprised," Dae commented of Durra.

"Much of my journey took me through Storval Plateau. The change in the land was no less sharp there, either."

"Fair enough, I guess. Are the rest of you over your shock enough for us to move on, or do you need to stand there and gape some more? It _is_ getting dark after all, and most of the taverns are on the other side of the town. We've been walking all day, and I, for one, would like a rest."

"I still think we shouldn't have sold the horses," Cerkal grumbled.

"And I'm still not sure what you're complaining about. We didn't sell _yours_, you can summon him again at any time," Jirin pointed out. "The horses wouldn't have done us much good through the forest... probably wouldn't have done much good coming up that path, either. We can buy new ones for the trip to Korvosa. Oh crap. Come on, quick, before we lose her. I don't know my way around this place."

Clearly bored with waiting, Dae had already started walking to the city. The others quickly followed after her, the walls looming over them on either side as they walked through the destroyed section that housed the Warrens. Haphazardly built wooden shacks littered the uneven ground, balanced precariously. Some of them looked like a moderate wind – or a determined person – could just knock them right over. Even worse, some of them were stacked up and up for several levels, all of it teetering dangerously.

"So, where exactly are we going, then?" Jirin asked.

"Hospice. Most of the taverns and stuff are in that part of town. It's part of the core, so we'll actually have sky over our heads instead of stone, too. It's why they all ended up there, I'm sure. Most visitors would be more comfortable skipping the dwarven scenery."

They were all a good deal more comfortable once they reached the end of the Warrens. Dae chattered at them a bit about the city as they wandered through the streets. This area of town was very busy, and lanterns were hung at regular intervals along the street. None of the people in this area seemed at all phased by the fact that the sun was now slipping below the horizon and the light levels were dropping fast. This was the main commercial area for the city, and it did not sleep with the sun. Although some shops were closed, many more showed signs that they would be open for at least a few more hours yet, plenty enough to serve the crowds that wandered the streets. It was almost the worst district for it, she told them. Only Oriat, the entertainment district, was worse; Oriat _never_ slept.

Things quieted some as they entered Hospice. Obviously, the taverns were still open, but there were fewer people bustling through the streets, as most of those here were comfortably sequestered in the nice warm buildings. Jirin left Dae to pick a suitable tavern for them, leaving the choice to her superior experience; his only request was that it was at least a _somewhat_ respectable tavern. Please. She had grinned at him, but had apparently decided to take pity, because the patrons of The Hog's Head seemed a fairly quiet and cheerful bunch. No-one looked like they were about to pull a knife on anyone else, anyway. The food looked good, too; hearty, filling fare.

He ordered enough food for them all and a pint of ale each and left Dae haggling the price of rooms. The tables were not terribly full, and both Durra and Cerkal wandered off to different areas to enjoy their meal in peace. This left Jirin alone at a table with Teril. At least the little gnome seemed as tired and hungry as the rest, eating his meal quietly. The fast pace they'd kept today had not been easy when some of their injuries were still not entirely healed, although he intended to make sure that a priest was tracked down at some point in the near future to finish the job on anyone who still needed it by that point.

Sadly, tired though Teril may have been, it apparently did not win out over his curiosity, and the silence was doomed to be a short one.

"So," he began. "You and Dae seem pretty close?"

"We grew up in the same city. Ran in the same circles."

"You're, ah... you're not doing anything about it, though?"

Jirin sighed internally. "No."

"You aren't... you know, into... well, men, are you?"

"No!" he cried indignantly. A couple people gave him an odd look and, red faced, he continued at a much mor ehushed tone. "Why would you even ask me that?"

"Well, I never quite get you people..."

"Us people?"

"You know... not gnomes. And here I thought that Dae was the sort you lot would find pretty appealing, no? Lots of curves... kinda squishy. The brown hair's a little boring, maybe, but that silver streak at the front makes it more interesting. Certainly seemed like anumber of the men on the walk over thought so. And I'm just wondering... if she's a pretty lass, and you two are so close... well, why _aren't_ you doing anything about it?"

"If I tell you, will it get you off my back?"

The gnome considered this for a bit. "At least for tonight, certainly. It's been a long day, after all."

"Good enough, I suppose," Jirin said with a sigh. "Look, we_ were_... once anyway. It didn't work out though. Nothing too terrible, just... commitment isn't really her thing, and while I might fool around a bit here and there, at the end of the day, it _is_ mine. I just couldn't really keep it up for very long knowing it was either going to end soon, or I'd always just be one casual fling of many. It's not my thing."

"Ah, I see. Well, that's fair enough then I suppose." Teril was silent for a time. "So, then, you wouldn't mind if I...?"

Jirin gave him a mildly horrified look. "I'm not her bloody keeper okay? Do what you want. Just don't... don't ever talk to me about it. Ever. Again."

"Alright, alright. I just know how you people can get sometimes, so I figured I'd better ask."

"I'm sure she'll be a woman after your own heart, then," he mumbled, head buried in his hands. "Just... please stop this conversation. Right now." Teril, thank the gods, turned back to his meal and didn't say anything more.

"Alright, I got us rooms," Dae said, sliding in beside the two of them. "The wolves stay outside here, though. They've got a separate shelter for exotic animals. Had to put down two gold for each of them, too; if they behave themselves and nothing goes wrong, we get the gold back when we leave. So, what were you two talking about?"

"Nothing that I am ever going to speak of again."

"Fine. Teril, what were you two talking about?"

"I'll tell you later, lass. I'm sure a visual inspection of my entrails would be fascinating, but I'd rather pass."

"As long as you actually do, or you might still get to find out what they look like," she mock-threatened, grinning.

"I think I'll leave you two to it," Jirin commented as he swiped his bread along the bottom of the bowl to soak up the last of the broth. "I'm done anyway, so I'd better go get Kadien settled in. Enjoy your conversation free from disembowlings." As he stood, he gave them a flourishing bow. "I think I'll go sleep myself, once I've done that. We all need to rest up for tomorrow. See you in the morning."


	12. II - Chapter Two

The sun beat down on the packed dirt of the courtyard outside the tavern. It was still early, but already shaping up to be a very warm day as the five of them gathered together, readying to go their separate ways.

"How long do you think it will take to find the people you're after?" Jirin was asking Dae.

"I'll start by putting out a few feelers this morning. By the time I've come back and eaten some lunch, word should have started trickling in. In the meantime, I can point you all in the general direction of where you want to go."

Jirin and Durra both wanted to go to the temples, but Cerkal quickly lost interest once Dae proclaimed, looking a little uncomfortable, that there was no temple to Iomedae anywhere in the city. The little gnome that was following them wanted to go look at magical artifacts and talk to some wizards – no surprise there for someone who spent their time making sparklies. That meant all three were headed in the same direction, it seemed; both arcane and divine magics found their home in Tarheel Promenade.

"What about you?" Dae asked him. "Where are you going then?"

"I'll take a look at the shops in Downmarket."

Dae frowned unhappily. "Well, I suppose you don't need any directions then, since we passed through there last night. Just... oh, nevermind. Have fun looking at swords, I'm sure."

Cerkal chose not to dignify that with a response – he cared little for a woman who couldn't give him the respect due his station as a paladin of Iomedae. Instead, he wandered off and left the others to finish discussing. Slowly, of course. He didn't want to overheat in this weather, after all, and there was no need to rush.

He hadn't gotten very far when his idle musings were interrupted by a melodic voice to his left.

"Oh! You look like just the sort of man I'm looking for."

Cerkal turned to see who had spoken, and found himself face to... well, face to chest, anyway – his chest – with a very petite elven lady. Her elegant gown was a vibrant forest-green, which suited well her golden eyes and the fiery plume of curly hair that seemed to cascade away from her like a waterfall. The alabaster white of her skin was so pale that he had to resist the urge to shade his eyes from the glare as the sun reflected off it.

"How so?"

"Oh well, there's just no mistaking you're a warrior! Not in that outfit. I just happen to be in need of some strong, competent warriors."

"What could you possibly need with a warrior, milady?" he asked politely.

"Why, protection, of course," she replied, her eyes going wide. "This city is just so... lawless! It's so terrible for a wee thing like me trying to get around. Oh, and then there's the journey to Korvosa! Such a long trip, and I've heard word of bandits! I just can't bear the thought of being waylaid by those brutes."

"Well, I am with a group that will be leaving for Korvosa in a few days. I am sure they will be perfectly happy to allow you to accompany us. In the meantime, I have no pressing demands on my time. I'm sure I could manage to escort you around the city."

"Oh, would you? That would be _wonderful_. I was starting to get terribly worried, with all of these unsavoury types around."

"If you're so concerned for your safety, why did you come here in the first place?" Cerkal asked curiously, an eyebrow raised. "And why not bring an escort with you?"

"I didn't know it would be this bad," she admitted, biting her lip and looking down, shamefaced. "Oh, my friends Talia and Karini said it would be a lovely place to come perform! They said musicians could get so much money here. I think they tricked me! I don't know why they'd do such a mean thing to me."

"Ah... I have no idea why anyone would do such a thing, milady," he replied, incredibly uncomfortable. He had never really done very well getting into the middle of such things, and he desperately wracked his brain for a way out this time. "So... you're a musician?"

"Oh!" The elf brightened and pulled a small flute out of the folds of her dress. "Yes, see? I do so love to play. Would you like to hear a small tune?" The flute was already to her lips before he could answer either way, and a bright and beautiful little tune issued forth. It sounded much like the song of a joyous bird, simple and sweet.

"You're very good," he said, when she lowered the flute again. "That was amazing."

"Thank you," she said, smiling shyly. "My name is Rhoda."

"That seems a very human name, for an elf."

"Oh, of course." She ducked her head with a small smile, one hand flying up to touch an ear. "I take a lot after my mother, you see, but I'm really only half elf. My dad raised me. He named me, too."

"Oh." Cerkal thought about it for a second. "That makes sense then, I suppose. Where were you planning to go, anyway?"

"Well, not really anywhere of consequence right now. I was really just looking for an escort, I don't play until later today. And can you imagine, I have to work alongside _whores_? They're just out in broad daylight in Oriat! It's shameful." She shook her head sadly. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't brood on it so much. I'll just follow you for now."

"If you really wish. I intended to go look at some weapon and armor shops, though... are you sure you won't get bored?"

"Well, I suppose if you _want_ me to choose..."

Cerkal regretted his decision almost immediately. It seemed like Rhoda had unerringly tracked down every last clothing shop in Downmarket that sold so much as a single item of clothing for women. She hadn't bought things at all of them – she did at least seem to have an eye for her money – but she _had_ tried at least one thing on in every shop. The resulting pile of what she _had_ bought was also large enough to be fairly awkward to carry while wearing plate armor, and the pace she'd kept left him sweating under his heaving armor.

"Please, milady," he panted. "Let us stop for a while, perhaps drop these purchases off at the tavern so I can get a drink? The weather is not kind to me."

Rhoda gave him a surprised look. "Why, of course! Oh, silly me, I hadn't even stopped to consider how hot you might be in all that gear in the midday sun! Let's go back right now. Here, let me carry some of those. I'm not trying anything on anymore, and you can't very well protect me if you haven't got an arm free."

He gratefully unloaded some of his burden onto her, just enough that he could get his sword arm free and carry the rest with only the one arm. She hummed as she shifted the items around to carry them more easily, until suddenly her hum cut off.

"Oh! Cerkal, a thief!"

Cerkal's head whipped around in time to spot the man in question slipping Rhoda's coin purse into his clothes. Obviously, he'd used the distraction of the two of them moving their loads to steal it. With a roar, he slipped his sword from his sheath and chased the man down.

"How dare you steal from such a lady?!"

The man turned and found himself facing the business end of a very large sword. His old, ragged clothes suddenly acquired a much darker patch. He glanced at the purse in his hand with a look of faint bewilderment, and threw it back at Cerkal.

"I- I'm sorry! Please, just... just leave me alone! Gods, stop swinging that thing around before you kill someone." He glanced at Rhoda, who was looking around, idly humming under her breath again. His attention was quickly drawn back to the paladin by the brush of metal against his adam's apple. "I was... I was just so hungry. I won't do it again though! Promise! Please... please just get that thing away from me..."

"You had best not," Cerkal told him coolly. He lifted the blade slightly, level to the man's cheek, and pressed in, just enough to leave a small, bleeding cut. "And that will serve to remind you never to steal again."

Sheathing his sword again with only one hand free was a slightly awkward task. Around him, he could hear dark murmurs, but whenever he looked at anyone, they averted their eyes. Only one or two of those there were willing to hold his gaze, and the look they gave in return was angry and defiant, making him bristle. He had just marked a thief, a criminal in their midst, and had likely stopped him from resorting to such crime again. They should be grateful! The sour attitude that hang in the air was poor gratitude indeed for the good he had done here. When he finally managed to get the tip of the sword into its scabbard, he slammed the rest home with a satisfying thunk, resisting the urge to snarl.

"Let's get out of here, milady. Before someone else accosts us."


End file.
